Product development is dangerous. Entire organizations have risen on success and fallen on failure to stay relevant in a rapidly changing world. There are no true “how to” books for product development, though there are many about some of the many, many things you might keep in mind as you do. Below is a list of books I’ve compiled over time. They’re not intended to be the list; simply one of titles I’ve found helpful as I’ve built products and worked with others to build them. – kevin
Complexity
Cynefin: Weaving Sense-Making Into the Fabric of Our World by Dave Snowden and Friends on amazon
Complexity: A Key Idea for Business and Society by Chris Mowles on amazon
Portfolio and Product Lifestyle
The Alchemy of Growth: Practical Insights for Building the Enduring Enterprise by Mehrdad Baghai et al. on amazon
Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey Moore on amazon
Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value by Melissa Perri on amazon
Decision Making
Commitment: A Novel About Managing Project Risk by Maassen, Matts & Gear on amazon
Seeing Money Clearly: Using Throughput Accounting to Understand and Manage Knowledge Work by Dan Doiron on agileagonist.com
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman on amazon
Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts by Annie Duke on amazon
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries on amazon
Leadership
Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath on amazon
Start with Why by Simon Sinek on amazon
Planning and Artifacts
User Story Mapping by Jeff Patton on amazon
Impact Mapping by Gojko Adzic on amazon
Specification By Example by Gojko Adzic on amazon
The Cucumber Book by Matt Wynee et al. on amazon
User Stories Applied by Mike Cohn on amazon
Workflow
Making Work Visible by Dominica DeGrandis on amazon