Escaping the Build Trap

I actually read this book quite a while ago, but only recently realized I had never written a review for it. This is a super short book on the topic of modern product management. Before reading this book, I didn't have a great understanding of how Product Management was different from Project Management. It was a great introduction to the discipline and how so many companies fall into poor working practices around the creation of products.

Success Metrics

The author frequently mentions the use of success metrics which still feels a little strange. I've always wondered how we could go about setting valuable success metrics until we fully understand the problem and how we might work toward a solution. If we've gotten to the point of understanding the problem and what a solution might achieve, then why waste time with success metrics. I'm not well versed enough in this space to trust that I'm on to something, but it's a piece of the puzzle that still seems to elude me.

Product Death Cycle

Another concept I loved was the idea of the Product Death Cycle. In the book, the author uses a diagram created originally by David Bland. This is a pattern I've seen many times in the past. I feel like this stems from the error of taking someone's idea of value and equating it to actual value. It's precisely this reason we don't allow long requirement documents up-front in the Software Factory. Just because someone can dream up 10 pages of user stories or features, it doesn't mean they're correct or useful. By waiting until something is in front of them and asking "What's the next most useful thing we could deliver?" we can head in a direction that is most likely to be valuable. There is also a tie in on the idea of delaying decisions when possible leads to better outcomes. Overall, love this image and concept!

Wrap-Up

Overall, I think this is a great book and a solid introduction to the body of knowledge around modern product management.

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