The Product Manager's Handbook : The Complete Product Management Resource

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Great starting point for Product Managers

Product Manager must have

Provides insight into the roles & responsibilities of the product manager

Top notch introduction

I used it in conjuction with Profitable and Successful

The Product Manager's Handbook : The Complete Product Management Resource
Linda Gorchels
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0658001353

Book Description

The Product Manager's Handbook is the essential guide to successful product management in today's fast-changing business world. Product and brand managers, as well as upper-level sales, marketing, and branding executives, will find the text thorough and informative as it explains and analyzes the product manager's role in both traditional, hierarchical organizations as well as in newer horizontal, team-driven decision-making structures.

What is a product manager? The overall responsibility of a product manager is to integrate the various segments of a business into a strategically focused whole, maximizing the value of a product by coordinating the production of an offering with an understanding of market needs. A product manager must oversee all aspects of a product or service line in order to create and deliver superior customer satisfaction while simultaneously providing long-term value for the company.

The Product Manager's Handbook covers all of these topics in a convenient, easy-to-follow presentation that includes:

Hands-on charts for managing every key step, from concept to completion
Practical checklists for evaluating progress at every critical stage
Brief profiles in every chapter of specific product management roles, functions, and issues
Real-world cases illustrating the challenges of product management in action

This thoroughly revised and updated second edition fully integrates the Internet and other digital technologies into the product manager's arsenal of tools. The book includes all new information on what it takes to be a successful product manager. It explains the product manager's role in the planning process (including strategic and operational planning), how to evaluate product portfolios, how to propose and develop successful new products, and more.

The product manager is frequently the source of the entrepreneurial spirit and sense of innovation that drives a successful organization. Learn to make the most of your product management system with this indispensable reference guide.

Download Description

This second edition of

Customer Reviews:

Great starting point for Product Managers.......2007-09-03

This book is probably the best overall guide for Product Managers I have seen. It is very broad in places because it tries to remain as applicable to Product Managers of all kinds of products, from shampoo to TVs to computer software. The concepts of Product Management are the same, regardless of industry, but the reader needs to be capable of translating broad concepts into something applicable to their own setting.

The book does a great job of describing the scope of a Product Manager's role and the types of things a Product Manager should be thinking about. This is particularly useful for new Product Managers or for experienced Product Managers that want a reference point for helping explain their role to others (often one of the greatest challenges for a Product Manager).

Product Manager must have.......2007-01-16

This book is is a must have for someone that want to have a good understanding of a Product Manager area of competency. It has real-life interviews related to challenges/solutions associated to this role. I absolutely recommend this book for someone that want to have a good understanding of what Product Manager entails.

Provides insight into the roles & responsibilities of the product manager.......2006-08-18

This book gives a good introduction into the roles and responsibilities of a product manager. It makes no assumptions of any prior knowledge or experiences. For each chapter, it provides worksheets or process flow charts. In addition, case studies of actual events are presented. At the end of each chapter, it provides a set of checklist. Therefore I will recommend this to any reader interested to know more or making a career change.

Overall, this book provides an excellent overview of the on-goings within business processes. Below is a brief summary.

This book is divided into 4 parts. Part I gives an introduction into product management. Part II highlights the process that the product managers (PMs) can use in their annual planning activities. It provides a format or guidelines for the annual product marketing plan. Part III highlights the analytical skills of PMs, which is to evaluate existing product line and to determine & implement new product strategies. Part IV elaborates on the marketing skills necessary for a successful product line. Special attention is devoted to pricing and marketing communication decisions and activities.

Briefly, product management is about the planning, forecasting and marketing of products and services. There is a need for PMs to be cross-functional leaders. The overall responsibility of the PM is to integrate the various segments of a business into a strategically focused whole, maximizing the value of a product by coordinating the production of an offering with an understanding of the market needs and requirements. PMs manage not only products, but projects and processes as well. The PM's job is to oversee all aspects of a product/service line to create and deliver superior customer satisfaction while simultaneously providing long term value for the company.

In terms of time allocation, the PM typically spends 40-55% on day-to-day activities, 20-30% on short term activities and 15-25% on long term or strategic activities. Therefore excellent time management is crucial. Examples of day-to-day activities are maintenance of product fact books, motivation of the sales force and distributors, collection of marketing information including competitive benchmarks, trends and opportunities and customer expectations, acting as liaison between the sales, manufacturing and R&D, etc teams. Examples of short-term activities are controlling budget and achieving sales goals, participation in annual marketing plan and forecast developments, working with advertising departments or agencies to implement promotional strategies, coordinating tradeshows and conventions, participation in new product-development teams and predicting and managing competitors' actions, modification of product and/or reduction of costs to increase value, recommendation of line extensions, participation in product elimination decisions, etc. Examples of long term strategic activities are creation of long term competitive strategy, identification of new product opportunities, recommendation of product changes, enhancements and introductions, etc.

PMs need a variety of knowledge including product/industry knowledge, business knowledge and interpersonal/management knowledge. In the beginning, PMs typically spend most of the time gathering and organizing information on products, customers and their competition. Product knowledge is paramount. As they gain experience, the focus shifts to more comprehensive business knowledge, including finance, marketing and strategic planning. At the same time, they develop team building, negotiation, communication and leadership abilities. For PM to be effective, they need to build bridges throughout the company and be cross-functional leaders. For product management or marketing management, the emphasis is on being market-driven and not product-driven.

In terms of new product development, the role of the PM will be to represent the voice of the customer, balancing the corporate ROI (rate of investment), customer satisfaction and the manufacturing cost. Whereas for strategic interactions, the PM must work continuously with operations to improve and enhance production line. PMs are frequently involved with operations on cost-reduction projects.

Top notch introduction.......2006-07-31

I agree with most of the other reviewers. This is a top notch introduction to project management. Compared to the previous edition, this edition has added more case studies and interviews with professionals. It has also been reorganized to move the "introducing product management" sections to the end of the book.

I used it in conjuction with Profitable and Successful.......2006-06-13

This is another book that forms the trio of my reference shelf in marketing (The others Succesful Product Management & Sucessfull Product Management). Again, this book gets you in the ready-action mode you need to keep focused on what really matters of your product dynamics.

Book Description

This invaluable book attempts to bridge business management and scientific management practices so as to foster better understanding between the two entities. It focuses on commercialization of research outcomes. Using cases extensively to illustrate practical difficulties encountered in working across functional barriers, the book also provides guidelines on how these difficulties can be overcome.

Customer Reviews:

Great book for doctor's office and for fireplace reading.......2003-12-27

This book is under the banner of the famed Linus Pauling Institute (Oregon State University) has it has a great foreword by Bruce Ames. Linus Pauling was one of the best thinkers of the last century and he recommended much higher than RDA / Daily Value intakes from a multi-vitamin as well as some other supplements in order to help procure optimal health.

There is no science yet to suggest that Pauling was wrong about such high dose supplementation --for example to lower blood-toxin homocysteine, the most likely cause of most heart disease, some cancers and Alzheimer's disease. However, the medical world is slow embracing the evidence supporting this approach but that is changing.

This book is an important and tightly edited work that will help practicing physicians and interested lay people with factual data, pointers and references and even the most knowledgeable person will surely pick up important health information they would otherwise have missed.

This is a well organized handbook with 27 chapters for the individual vitamins and minerals and their effects, sources and therapeutic indications and drug interactions.

This book has "Tolerable Upper Levels" tables to satisfy even the most conservative physician but it must be said that this heading represents a level that prevents the most uncommon or even trivial interactions, and a level that may well be much below "Optimal Levels" as suggested by Pauling, and which are likely to promote health in the great majority of people.

The book would benefit from a "Pauling Proposed Probable Optimal Levels in Most" table and from the inclusion of chapters for what used to be named vitamin F, with the F from "Fat", i.e. the essential omega-3 and omega-6 oils, think of them as vitamins F-3 and F-6. Present intakes of omega-3s are well below adequate levels while omega-6 (linoleic acid from most vegetable oils) may well represent our most common "vitamin overdose".

The challenge of the new nutrition is figuring out the "Long-Latency Deficiency Diseases", LLDD's if you wish, caused by the insufficient intakes over time of one or several nutrients, from vitamin D and calcium for bone health, to the homocysteine-lowering trio of folic acid, B6 and B12 for heart and other diseases.

Book Description

X-Ray Fluorescence analysis (XRF) is a reliable multi-elemental and nondestructive analytical method widely used in research and industrial applications. This practical handbook provides self-contained modules featuring XRF instrumentation, quantification methods, and most of the current applications. The broad spectrum of topics is due to the efforts of a large number of authors from a variety of different types of institutions such as universities, research institutes, and companies. The book gives a survey of the theoretical fundamentals, analytical instrumentation, software for data processing, various excitation regimes including gracing incidents and microfocus measurements, quantitative analysis, applications in routine and micro analysis, mineralogy, biology, medicine, criminal investigations, archeology, metallurgy, abrasion, microelectronics, environmental air and water analysis. It gives the basic knowledge on this technique, information on analytical equipment and guides the reader to the various applications. This practical handbook is intended as a resource for graduate students, research scientists, and industrial users.

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The Handbook of Trace Elements
Istvan Pais , and Jr., J. Benton Jones
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Biochemistry | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

The Handbook of Trace Elements brings together, in a single source and in an easy-to-use format, a complete listing of the trace element content of a wide range of substances. This easily accessible book provides a complete description by element for 41 trace elements found in the environment (Earth's crust, soil, water, plants, animals, and humans). It is a must for researchers, scientists and other professionals engaged in the study of trace elements.

Pocket Guide to Micronutrients in Health and Disease

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Pocket Guide to Micronutrients in Health and Disease
Michael Zimmermann
Manufacturer: Thieme Medical Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Nutrition | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1588900436

Book Description

An optimal supply of vitamins, minerals and trace elements can evoke a positive change in the biochemical and metabolic processes that take place in the body. The application of this knowledge has led to the development of an effective new approach to preventing and treating a variety of diseases. The selective use of micronutrients is a simple and practical method of nutritional therapy with clinically recognized effectiveness.

Michael Zimmermann, M.D., lecturer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, provides into his indisputable pocket reference all the practically relevant facts of micronutrient therapy in a compact and user-friendly form.

Features:

-Convenient overview of the individual micronutrient groups

-Helpful organization according to age group

-65 clinical diagnoses with therapeutic recommendations

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A gardener's guide to soil testing (AG)
Erv Evans
Manufacturer: N.C. Cooperative Extension Service
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Soil Science | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006RLJXO

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Guidelines for collecting and processing samples of stream bed sediment for analysis of trace elements and organic contaminants for the National Water-Quality ... (U.S. Geological Survey open-file report)
L. R Shelton
Manufacturer: USGS Earth Science Information Center, Open-File Reports Section [distributor]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Water Quality & Treatment | Environmental | Civil | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006PC868

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Handbook of the Rare Elements: Volume 1 Trace Elements and Light Elements (1968)
Ma and Ei Filyand and Semenova
Manufacturer: Boston Technical,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000R0D8SO

Amazon.com

"The excitement of discovery cannot be bought, or faked, or learned from books," London Natural History Museum senior paleontologist Richard Fortey writes in Life. The first chapter, an engrossing account of an Arctic fossil-hunting expedition he undertook as a university student, will bring shivers to anyone who has ever ignored cold hands, hunger, and filthy socks to keep looking for something new, some piece of rock or bit of plant that may hold the key to the gleaming certainty of understanding. Fortey's descriptions of scruffy field assistants and eccentrically brilliant scientists are easily as interesting as the billions of years of evolution he so imaginatively describes. After all, the fossil record has not been accepted without controversy, and the arguments among fallible evolutionary biologists as they refined their theories make for great reading. But it is the little animals that make up our distant ancestry that are the focus here. The often mysterious fossils they left behind are like a history book in a language we don't know--the history of bugs and birds, humans and cauliflowers. One by one, Fortey reveals how the puzzles of paleontology have been subjected to the scientific method and to the politics and personal ambitions of academia, until a beautifully clear path is traced from the very first traces of life all the way across the eons to the advent of Homo sapiens. Fortey's elegantly written tour lets us share his passion for ancient seas and the animals that frolicked in them, and understand how time and chance contributed to the biography of us all. --Therese Littleton

Book Description

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

"Extraordinary. . . . Anyone with the slightest interest in biology should read this book."--The New York Times Book Review

"A marvelous museum of the past four billion years on earth--capacious, jammed with treasures, full of learning and wide-eyed wonder."--The Boston Globe

From its origins on the still-forming planet to the recent emergence of Homo sapiens--one of the world's leading paleontologists offers an absorbing account of how and why life on earth developed as it did. Interlacing the tale of his own adventures in the field with vivid descriptions of creatures who emerged and disappeared in the long march of geologic time, Richard Fortey sheds light upon a fascinating array of evolutionary wonders, mysteries, and debates. Brimming with wit, literary style, and the joy of discovery, this is an indispensable book that will delight the general reader and the scientist alike.

"A drama bolder and more sweeping than Gone with the Wind . . . a pleasure to read."--Science

"A beautifully written and structured work . . . packed with lucid expositions of science."--Natural History

Customer Reviews:

A scientist with a voice.......2006-08-01

Fortey is witty and engaging, enlivening his narrative with anecdotes and asides that remind readers that science is done, in the end, by human beings. (Note that the photos include a pub frequented by paleontologists as well as the more-expected photos of fossils and scientists.) A good companion to Richard Dawkins' "The Ancestor's Tale," which tells the same story in the opposite direction, i.e., from the present back to the beginnings of life on earth. Highly recommended for non-scientists, like me, who are fascinated by this topic and appreciate a little wit along with the facts.

Interesting, though not enlightening.......2006-06-09

Four billion years in 13 chapters! Well, almost. Richard Fortey's book has many attributes to its name. It outlines each important event from the formation of the earth to the ascent of man. If you do not already have a basic understanding of the origin and development of life, this book will educate you in a readable, non-professional way. His personal anecdotes give the book a personal, human touch. They often give insight into life as a scientist and (usually) are quite entertaining. He paints vivid scenes of primordial seas and Carboniferous forests that pique interest much more easily than bland textbook descriptions can. He throws in many facts that don't really have much importance or relevance, but which I still found fairly interesting. For example, Fortey writes that Augustus de Morgan was a literary parasite that fed upon Jonathan Swift, loosely connecting this to an explanation of the advent of parasitism.

However, Life comes up short in many ways. Some of Fortey's digressions are drawn-out, completely irrelevant or just boring. These tangents take up quite a bit of the book so prepare to be distracted from the topic at hand. Though Fortey's book is readable, the lack of a timeline, charts, graphs, or any other visual aid (other than the photographs he chooses to include) limits the reader's comprehension. If you already have a fairly solid understanding of the origin of life, you would not learn much, other than a few trivial facts. Also, if the reader were completely unfamiliar with biology, he would have a difficult time making sense of the numerous time periods and terms presented, though there is a glossary included in the back. Therefore, the book is really geared towards an audience that has already heard of Archaea and euglena, but would like to read a book that traces the development of life from the very beginning to the near present. If you were looking for a truly informative book or one with depth, I would not recommend this book, for Fortey's intention was not to write a completely comprehensive book on four billion years of history.

Fortey does do a good job of introducing the reader to the history of life and each reader will find a different part of the book most engaging (I particularly enjoyed the chapter on the theories of mass extinction and the discussion of the K-T boundary). Do not expect a book that is very focused or covers any subject in much detail, and the book will not disappoint.

What is Life? Let Richard Tell You!.......2006-03-27

Well here it is 4,000,000,000 years crammed into 365 pages and a full index. Bet you thought no one could do it? Of course no one can do it! But Fortey comes as close as is possible and tells it like a master wordsmith. Each chapter deals with a different geological epoch: from the earliest slime molds generating all that 02 neccessary for further plant evolution to the eventual marvels of dinosaurs and modern man.

There are high points and low points in Fortey's writing. His experiences on Spitzbergen are a little drawn out and he also sometimes carries on analogies more than they should (reference the monkey's tea party). But beyond that, Fortey is as close as one can get to a literate Richard Dawkins -- and certainly a lot friendlier with few axes to grind.

The high points of the book will change from person to person, but for me it was the descriptions of all those slime molds eeking out an existence in an adverse world. All of the evolution they made possible, while at the same time not really evolving. The analysis of biosphere in the inner reaches of the earth were also focused and great to read. The passage to bony creatures from external skeletons and analysis of the wonderful Burgess Shales rendering more questions raised than answered. But the crowning glory in my estimation was the genesis of the KT climax rendering dinosaurs exctinct in most cases and leading to the rise of mammals...

In final analysis there are few people that can write well enough to pass natural history off with as much verve and adventure as Richard Fortey. That is a standing tribute to the beauty of this book and should be recommended reading to any adolescent, or adult with a penchant for understanding nature and the greater glory of God and the wonder of the world around us!

One Of The Best At What It Is.......2006-03-22

If you buy this book, I think you should realize that is only what the author intends it to be and says that it is. There is no room for a close examination of four billion years; indeed, there is no room for anything more than a very sparse sample of ideas that interested Fortey in his career and that he feels might interest a reader. In addition, it is, deliberately, and very much in the style of Gould, a book that insists on making the point that science is a human activity and that ideas do not exist without human passions and foibles.

So this is no textbook, no listing, however engaging, of the 'most important things to know about the first four billion years', nosurvey of the current state of thought about some critical evolutionary concepts. It's an attempt by a guy who really likes what he does to give readers some insights into what he's been working with during his career. I think it's also an attempt to communicate his fascination with the study of life on earth and to present the public with some of the more exciting tidbits along the way.

At that level, the book is easily in my top five. Fortey's ramblings about his personal experiences do not bother me at all. In fact, to me they communicate the continuity, if I can put it that way, of our own lives with the lives of creatures in the distant past. Their lives were as normal and routine to them as ours are to us; we may someday be the subjects of another look into the distant past. The history gains life through this writing style - and let's face it, we don't want to read about fossils, we all want to imagine the living creatures in their own times.

I'm not a scientist, but I am an eager reader of 'popular science' works like this one. Stephen J Gould was one of my favorite writers, and so is Fortey. This is not a book for people who want to learn about four billion years of life on Earth; it's a book for people who love reading about it. If you are one of those people, grab this one.

Sometimes slow but a good book.......2005-11-28

"A Natural History of the First Four Billions Years of Life on Earth" is a pretty big pill to swallow. Depending on your interest you might not think he takes enough time here and there to explain current thinking but I can't imagine a better springboard to the big picture. He writes well but does seem to go on a bit - sometimes I wasn't quite sure where. A good book, though, with tons of information.

Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth

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Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth
Richard Fortey
Manufacturer: Alfred A. Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JNKZ7Q

Product Description

Richard Fortrey is a senior paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London. The book is illustrated with 88 photographs.

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