Product Management

The 25 Best Free eBooks for Digital Product Managers

Published November 7, 2018 ⚡ Updated on October 2, 2023 by Arne

Digital product managers are responsible for overseeing the entire life cycle of a product. The role has multiple functions from strategic to tactical and also provides cross-functional management in engineering, marketing, sales, and support teams. For that reason, product managers are considered to be the glue that binds the many aspects of digital products.=

Digital product managers are the CEOs of the products they manage and to do this role effectively, they have to be deeply technical people who are also business savvy. This is the reason why product management is becoming the new training ground for future tech CEOs.

1. Mobile Product Management: New Trends & Data for 2023

Apptentive surveyed over 200 mobile product managers and presented their findings in this report to understand mobiles impact on the product management industry. According to the researchers, this is study created to help mobile product managers understand how their jobs and mobile products stack up against their peers, along with tips for improving technical skills, measuring success, facing challenges, and how to get ahead.

2. The Secret to Making an Enterprise UX-Friendly

This eBook looks at the challenges and opportunities facing the development of usable enterprise software today and contains templates as well as step-by-step guidance based from real-life examples. This is a broad field, and we also wrote some topics about it if you need a quick into: The most important UX Rule

3. The Definitive Guide to Qualitative Analytics

This guide was drafted to help mobile product managers, CTOs, mobile developers, UX researchers, UI designers, mobile marketers, mobile startup leaders, or any other type of appreneurunderstand the transformation occurring in the realm of mobile app analytics.

4. The Product Managers Guide to Customer-Centered Growth

According to UserTesting, the key to driving sustainable growth is to use customer insights to discover the unique combination of tactics that work for your product. Their eBook The Product Managers Guide to Customer-Centered Growthis perfect for Product Managers, VPs of Product, VPs of Growth, or anyone whos thinking about growing their product in a sustainable, customer-centered way.

5. Prototyping for Product Managers

Written by a product manager with 10 years of experience, the “Prototyping for Product Managers” eBook contains a step-by-step guide to simplifying requirements and minimizing risk as well as hands-on exercises on prototyping with examples.

6. The Product Managers Definitive Guide for Mobile App Optimization

A Product Manager’s Handbook For Mobile App Optimization is a free eBook for digital product managers that discusses a structured approach to conversion rate optimization through process-driven A/B testing in their mobile app.

7. Intercom on Product Management

Intercom on Product Management is a great eBook for on product management. It is a collection of lessons that offers guidance on the tough decisions product managers face on the daily.

8. The Product Managers Handbook The Complete Product Management Resource

The information in The Product Managers Handbook The Complete Product Management Resource is 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. This free eBook is great for digital product managers as well as upper-level sales, marketing, and branding executives.

9. 42 Rules of Product Management

The 42 Rules of Product Management eBook is a collection of wisdom from 40 expert Product Managers around the world. Each author shares an insightful rule to follow to be a successful Product Manager.

10. Getting Real

Getting Real by 37 Signals is a book about a smarter, faster, and easier way to build a successful web application. Anyone working on a web app including entrepreneurs, designers, programmers, executives, product managers or marketers will find value in this practical book.

11. A Practical Guide: Product Management & Agile Development

In this free eBook, digital product managers can learn practical tips on how to run Agile development teams. It covers the whys and hows of agile development, the role of product management, release planning, release management, road mapping, creating and prioritizing a product backlog, documentation, product launches, organizational implications, and more.

12. New Product Development Process For Software

New Product Development Process For Software by Dialexa aims to empower product managers and other innovators with additional tools to help them create and realize the full potential of their product concepts.

13. The Real Role of Beta Testing in Product Management

This free eBook reveals the true value beta testing delivers to product managers and how you can leverage that value to further your goals while building relationships with your customers. In addition to that, this resource delivers an additional seven proven best practices that product managers can use to ensure a successful beta program, as well as ten common pitfalls to avoid.

If youre interested in user testing, make sure to read our article: Why testing with users is still a challenge

14. The Complete Guide to Building a Successful Agile Team

If you are currently building an Agile team, this guide will teach you the roles of each team member to ensure the success of your product. You will also get tips on how to manage your Agile team as well as gain a deeper understanding of each team member’s responsibilities and how it serves the team.

15. Guide to Product Management

The Guide to Product Management eBook is a free resource that provides an overview of the strategic and tactical roles of product management as well as business processes and deliverables for roadmap development, requirements management, early access program management, and product launch.

16. Expertise in Product Management

The Expertise in Product Management free eBook will teach digital product managers all there is to know about organizing the team for success.

17. The User Experience Guide Book For Product Managers

The User Experience Guide Book For Product Managers is a 70+ page free eBook where you will find the following information:

Theory and practice of delivering a remarkable experience with any product
A thorough course in wireframing and prototyping for Product Managers
An extensive list of UX design tools
Advice on nurturing an effective design-centric culture

18. Take the Guesswork Out of Product Management

Take the Guesswork Out of Product Management is a guide for digital product managers how to convert trial users to paying customers, measure the impact of UI changes, prioritize product roadmaps based on change and how to make important decisions when it comes to developing the product.

19. How Agencies Can Perform Better with Workflow Management Software

Every agency needs good management software to streamline processes, improve management and get a better gauge of overall agency performance. In this complete guide, digital product managers will get a step-by-step guide to implementing new technology at your company and which technologies world-leading agencies are using to stay ahead of the pack.

20. The Ultimate Guide to Project Management

Learn everything about project management in The Ultimate Guide to Project Management by the Zapier Team. This resource is perfect for anyone managing projects, whether you’re looking for better tools and tricks to keep projects on schedule, or are just starting out.

21. The Complete KPI Handbook for Mobile Apps

The Complete KPI Handbook for Mobile Apps is a definitive handbook that helps you organize your in-app KPIs based on particular phases of your apps life. It discusses how to embrace a data-driven mentality for your app, which in-app objectives to prioritize according to each stage of your app, which in-app KPIs matter the most for certain stages of your app and why and how to optimize these particular KPIs.

22. The Essential Toolbox for Mobile Product Managers

The Essential Toolbox for Mobile Product Managers is a comprehensive guide for digital product managers who improve their product strategy and deployment. This free eBook includes a very extensive list of the best blogs to follow, books, podcasts, communities, tools, etc.

23. The Product Book

Product managers oversee a LOT but it’s a hard job. The Product Book teachers is for anyone wondering how to become a great product manager. Filled with practical advice, best practices, and expert tips, this book is here to help you succeed!

24. Digital Product Management

This book will walk you through understanding your customer and stakeholder needs, researching and tracking market data, writing effective user stories, analyzing and prioritizing product enhancements using the Kano Model, using the concept of Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to validate ideas, measuring and validating product successes or failures and communicating product insights and performance.

25. The Product Manager’s Guide to Smart Product Roadmap Prioritization

Discover what every product manager needs to know about product roadmap prioritization in this eBook. This guide will help you identify the 3 major roadmap influencers and keep them front and center throughout the product life-cycle, prioritize feature requests, bug fixes, and other initiatives; stay in sync with product vision, business strategy, and customer needs and finally, maintain a focused product development roadmap.

Definitely make sure to have a look at some of these books if you want to give your career in product management a boost and also make sure to check out our guide to Design Thinking for Product Managers


Arne Hendricks is the founder of planbar.app the digital planning board for tradespeople.

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