Take Charge Product Management: Time-tested Tips, Tactics, and Tools for the New Or Improved Product Manager

Greg Geracie

Jan 2010 · Greg Geracie

About this ebook

Unlock your product management potential and achieve breakthrough performance for your products and company!

If you're looking for an effective and proven approach to product management - one that recognizes that the majority of product managers enter the field with little or no training and must learn through trial and error - this is the book for you. Take Charge Product Management guides you step-by-step along the product management path with tips, tactics, and tools to make you and your products more successful.

Whether you're a new or experienced product manager, or a seasoned executive leading a team of product managers, this hands-on guide arms you with best practices to optimize your time and effectiveness and increase your value.

"Having performed technology assessments for over 200 companies, we have found the information and processes contained in this book to be outstanding and best practices." Rick Jennings, CISA, President, Assess-IT

"Geracie nails it with Take Charge Product Management. This book is a comprehensive guide to becoming a highly effective product manager. The book's format really brings home the tools and processes that are required to become a leader in any organization's product management function. Take Charge Product Management should be the new bible for all product managers!" Kevin Maguire, General Manager, Philips Healthcare

"Greg has done a wonderful job capturing the experience of being a product manager in an engaging and readable book. There are insights here that I would love to have had when I started, and still learned from after 15 years in product management!" Edgar MacBean, Vice President, Product Management, Pathway Genomics

"Geracie delivers an incredibly useful book with real-world insights, application points, and no fluff - every word is real-world. The unique format of a story line along with the practical and comprehensive guidance at each step of the story is like having an experienced product manager mentor guiding you every step of the way." Matt Jackson, Owner, Jackson Consulting, Inc.

"Take Charge Product Management is a must read for all product management and product marketing professionals. This book takes an often complicated job and provides clear direction. With its proven strategies and practical examples, product managers can maximize their return on investment and ensure their organization's success." Brad Morton, Senior Vice President, Product Management, Morehead Associates

"Reading this book, I relived my early days - finding my way as a new product manager. It made me wish there had been a practical guide available to navigate the practice of product management then. Take Charge Product Management is that practical guide for beginning product managers! The substance of the book also provides seasoned professionals with a wealth of actionable information on the art and science of product management." David Murdock, Director, Consulting Services and Product Management at Quorum Health Resources

"A fast-paced and comprehensive approach to product management shedding needed light on the role, responsibilities, and job expectations, and providing the necessary tools for product managers to succeed. A fantastic read for executives looking to create a new product management organization and hire the right people for the job!" David Palkoner, Director of Product Management, Solucient, LLC.

About the Author

Greg Geracie is the President and Founder of Actuation Consulting, LLC., providing product management advisory services, training, and consulting to organizations nationwide. Actuation Consulting is the culmination of over 23 years' experience in product management and marketing leadership positions for start-ups, private equity-backed ventures, mid-sized companies, and multi-billion dollar corporations.

Ratings and reviews

What I liked about this book was that it was not written in a reference format. Instead, however, it was written through the eyes of an engaging fictitious character, Sean Knight. It was very easy to relate to the character and easy to follow the journey that Sean was on. Although, Sean was a fictitious character, it was clear that Sean's experiences were real-life experiences from the author. What was also clear was that Geracie's experiences and guidance were real to the corporate world and not based on theory. What was so unique was Geracie was actually teaching through a fundamental tool that all product managers should know, "the user persona / user story". You don't really recognize it until you are a majority of the way through the book, where you have the realization that you were just walked through a user story of the role that you are playing in real life. If only more text books were like this, I think learning would be easier, more relevant, and much more enjoyable. Besides the unique format, Geracie's depth on certain topics makes this an essential read. For the first time, someone finally recognizes the different Product Management roles and how they change relative to the size of your company - yes size does matter. I found it refreshing that tips and tools were provided through each step of the Product Management process. The tools and tips were intentionally located at the end of each chapter making them easy to pull out and hang on my bulletin board. The other thing I found very insightful, was how Geracie took you into the mind of the Senior Executive. Having the understanding and insight into how people in these Senior Leadership roles think, better prepares anyone going into this field of Product Management. My only problem reading this book was that I wish I had this book 10 years ago when I had started my career. Having a mentor in a book is invaluable. But what is nice about this book is that I know I will use it for the next 10 years of my career.

The Perfect Compliment to the Handbooks and Reference Books that are the Norm in Product Management Literature Having done product management for the bulk of my career I found Geracie's book on product management to be a perfect compliment to the reference books and hand books that are the norm. While these reference style books are useful few if any treat product management from the perspective of a "system" with a logical progression. While Take Charge Product Management does not touch on every aspect of product management it does an outstanding job of presenting a comprehensive picture of a product managers job, particularly for those who are evaluating product management as a profession or are looking to come up the product management curve. As I indicated earlier I have been doing product management the bulk of my career but I found many elements in Geracie's system that I will add to my portfolio and I believe you will too! On a final note, I could see this book being used more broadly than just product managers. For instance I recently spoke with a retained recruiter who had a reasonably solid grasp of the profession but wasn't clear on the skills needed to truly be successful. This book would have been a great reference point since Geracie clearly spells out the skills needed to be successful at each stage of company growth. This is only one example but I can think of many others applying to project managers, sales or engineering staff that aspire to grab the product management reins and take charge!

About the author

Greg Geracie is the President and Founder of Actuation Consulting, LLC., providing product management advisory services, training, and consulting to organizations nationwide. Actuation Consulting is the culmination of over 23 years’ experience in product management and marketing leadership positions for start-ups, private equity-backed ventures, mid-sized companies, and multi-billion dollar corporations.