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Intercom on Product Management
Some helpful thoughts on the challenges of building software products from the team at Intercom.
65 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2015
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1116 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
February 20, 2020
Intercom does these little ebooks on all kinds of topics - Product Management, Sales, Customer support, Onboarding etc. I only read one before this - The Growth Handbook - and loved it. But this one didn't quite hit the mark for me.
Intercom is a very successful corporation and these ebooks while being quite general are still high-quality. A good overview of the topic that will benefit people who are novices or non-specialists as an introduction to the topic. Or perhaps if you're confused and out of balance and need to get down to the basics and get your ducks in a row.
I guess I expected more. I didn't find out anything new. But I'm probably not the target audience for this one since I've read a bunch on the topic already. It's pretty short, so I don't begrudge the time spent on this.
Intercom is a very successful corporation and these ebooks while being quite general are still high-quality. A good overview of the topic that will benefit people who are novices or non-specialists as an introduction to the topic. Or perhaps if you're confused and out of balance and need to get down to the basics and get your ducks in a row.
I guess I expected more. I didn't find out anything new. But I'm probably not the target audience for this one since I've read a bunch on the topic already. It's pretty short, so I don't begrudge the time spent on this.
October 28, 2015
A small and concise book about Product Management. Gives you all the basics. Made me more inquisitive about the topic. Will definitely grab another book.
July 8, 2015
This book fared better than most "collections of blog posts" in that there's a good amount of solid, practical advice for newer product managers. The feature checklists are clearly written from experience, as are the "reasons" PMs will hear for why feature X MUST be built, when it actually shouldn't. They started to sell a Intercom a bit hard in the last chapter which detracted from things a bit, but it was done with relevance. I moved my company to Intercom for a few of the communication reasons they outlined.
A nice, quick, recommended read for PMs to brush up on how to keep a focused roadmap.
A nice, quick, recommended read for PMs to brush up on how to keep a focused roadmap.
June 21, 2021
Very concise and to-the-point intro into product mgmt.
no bullshit, no excessive repetitions
Obviously, a lot of things left out, but that’s exactly what is great about it: focus on a few important principles
no bullshit, no excessive repetitions
Obviously, a lot of things left out, but that’s exactly what is great about it: focus on a few important principles
November 9, 2020
well, that was okay. highlighted some useful insights and found some questions to think about.
April 1, 2021
I really liked this book! So simple and objective. I had powerful insights.
October 29, 2017
I really enjoyed reading this book. It has a lot of tips for you about how to manage the product roadmap and how to say yes or no to features. totally recommended.
September 30, 2015
Very quick book to summarize what creating a product takes, but if you already read their articles about how and when to say yes/no to new features, you almost read the whole book. Still, it is a good reminder how to keep on track. Though, I would love to read more examples when you are creating new product and at first you have nowhere to take feedback from.
December 24, 2016
Якщо нічого по темі не читав раніше — зійде.
December 30, 2021
If you focus only on new features you’ll build a product that is miles wide
and inches deep. And if you focus only on repairs you’ll never innovate, thus
becoming irrelevant. Hard decisions indeed.
Put simply: a minor improvement on an important task is almost always a larger opportunity than a big improvement on an ancillary one.
Here’s an example: A typical date might involve a movie, dinner, and a lift home. If a cinema owner is constantly worried about what other businesses will build, and hungry to capture more value, they’ll put a restaurant into their cinema and start a cab company. Then they’ll be weak at all three. Then restaurants start screening movies…
Key point: Scope grows in minutes, not months. Look after the minutes, and the months take care of themselves.
There’s a big difference between the retail price and cost of ownership.
Jeff Bezos is famous for saying “focus on the things that don’t change”. The problems that people and businesses encounter don’t change often. The ways they can be solved changes almost yearly. So it stands to reason that making things people want should start with the “what people want” bit, and not the more tempting “things we can make”.
Remember: It’s easier to make things people want, than it is to make people want things.
Feedback on what it’s like to use a feature can only come from people who have used it. What you’re looking for here is:
»» Discoverability – are people finding this feature?
»» Engagement – are people using this feature?
»» Adoption – is it now being used as part of a workflow?
»» Use Cases – how is it being used? what use-cases are popular?
»» Barriers – Who isn’t using it? why? what’s preventing them?
The first screen your users see has three important jobs:
»» Explain how your application works.
»» Motivate your users to get started.
»» Let your users know how to get help, if and when they need it.
and inches deep. And if you focus only on repairs you’ll never innovate, thus
becoming irrelevant. Hard decisions indeed.
Put simply: a minor improvement on an important task is almost always a larger opportunity than a big improvement on an ancillary one.
Here’s an example: A typical date might involve a movie, dinner, and a lift home. If a cinema owner is constantly worried about what other businesses will build, and hungry to capture more value, they’ll put a restaurant into their cinema and start a cab company. Then they’ll be weak at all three. Then restaurants start screening movies…
Key point: Scope grows in minutes, not months. Look after the minutes, and the months take care of themselves.
There’s a big difference between the retail price and cost of ownership.
Jeff Bezos is famous for saying “focus on the things that don’t change”. The problems that people and businesses encounter don’t change often. The ways they can be solved changes almost yearly. So it stands to reason that making things people want should start with the “what people want” bit, and not the more tempting “things we can make”.
Remember: It’s easier to make things people want, than it is to make people want things.
Feedback on what it’s like to use a feature can only come from people who have used it. What you’re looking for here is:
»» Discoverability – are people finding this feature?
»» Engagement – are people using this feature?
»» Adoption – is it now being used as part of a workflow?
»» Use Cases – how is it being used? what use-cases are popular?
»» Barriers – Who isn’t using it? why? what’s preventing them?
The first screen your users see has three important jobs:
»» Explain how your application works.
»» Motivate your users to get started.
»» Let your users know how to get help, if and when they need it.
August 6, 2022
Quick and informative.
As always, it’s a pleasure to read content from the intercom fellas!
Main takeaways-
* be careful what to add to your product and know when to say no! Don’t bloat your product this way and use the jobs to be done theory to truly know what your users/customers need to achieve. So you can ship additions and improvements that matter to them.
Not to mention, this way, you are more likely to actually differentiate yourself when compared to your competition.
The bigger your customer base the more careful your roll out procedures should be. Ideally staged and gradually. Not to all your 100% users at once.
Know which features your users actually use and what they use it for. Regularly as one of your responses, kill features that aren’t used and that can’t be improved as much so that they will be instead of letting them bloat the product.
Mainly ship additions and improvements for high impact and high frequency features.
Rather improve existing features that are used by all users than adding new ones for only a fraction of your user base.
While 20% of your features bring 80% of your value, take what mark Zuckerberg said to the heart and know for which features a “good enough” doesn’t do it. Where do you need to go one step further with a feature to “shine” and not to be yet another mediocre solution that is doomed to be forgotten and disrupted by another solution that gets it done in a more efficient or effective way.
As always, it’s a pleasure to read content from the intercom fellas!
Main takeaways-
* be careful what to add to your product and know when to say no! Don’t bloat your product this way and use the jobs to be done theory to truly know what your users/customers need to achieve. So you can ship additions and improvements that matter to them.
Not to mention, this way, you are more likely to actually differentiate yourself when compared to your competition.
The bigger your customer base the more careful your roll out procedures should be. Ideally staged and gradually. Not to all your 100% users at once.
Know which features your users actually use and what they use it for. Regularly as one of your responses, kill features that aren’t used and that can’t be improved as much so that they will be instead of letting them bloat the product.
Mainly ship additions and improvements for high impact and high frequency features.
Rather improve existing features that are used by all users than adding new ones for only a fraction of your user base.
While 20% of your features bring 80% of your value, take what mark Zuckerberg said to the heart and know for which features a “good enough” doesn’t do it. Where do you need to go one step further with a feature to “shine” and not to be yet another mediocre solution that is doomed to be forgotten and disrupted by another solution that gets it done in a more efficient or effective way.
April 19, 2023
Intercom on Product Management is a book by Des Traynor, co-founder of Intercom, and John Collins, managing editor of Intercom's blog. The book is a collection of essays and articles on product management, written by Intercom's team of product managers, engineers, and designers.
The book covers a wide range of topics, including:
How to define a product's value proposition
How to build a product roadmap
How to measure the success of a product
How to create a great user experience
How to build a product team
How to deal with product failure
The book is written in a clear and engaging style, and it is packed with practical advice. It is an essential read for anyone who wants to learn how to build great products.
The book covers a wide range of topics, including:
How to define a product's value proposition
How to build a product roadmap
How to measure the success of a product
How to create a great user experience
How to build a product team
How to deal with product failure
The book is written in a clear and engaging style, and it is packed with practical advice. It is an essential read for anyone who wants to learn how to build great products.
August 15, 2019
Good and dense book for Product Owners.
Some quotes:
A minor improvement on an important task is almost always a larger opportunity than a big improvement on an ancillary one
—
Pick a need where the existing solutions are old, complex, and bloated, and find the simplest smallest set of steps possible to deliver the same outcome.
—
No customer can be more important than a good product.
—
Telling your customers something is a “ground up rewrite”, “HTML5 based”, “responsive” or anything like that will miss the mark unless you’re selling to developers. No one cares what you did, or often even how you did it. Your customers care about what they can do
Some quotes:
A minor improvement on an important task is almost always a larger opportunity than a big improvement on an ancillary one
—
Pick a need where the existing solutions are old, complex, and bloated, and find the simplest smallest set of steps possible to deliver the same outcome.
—
No customer can be more important than a good product.
—
Telling your customers something is a “ground up rewrite”, “HTML5 based”, “responsive” or anything like that will miss the mark unless you’re selling to developers. No one cares what you did, or often even how you did it. Your customers care about what they can do
March 14, 2021
I was rather disappointed by this one. The first book I read by Intercom (on Marketing) was well structured, included insights and practical tips and was deeper and more interesting in general.
As they say at the beginning of the book, "Intercom on Product Management" was compiled from a series of blog posts and articles on various product-related topics and I must say it shows. The book doesn't cover any of the important things in product management and shows only odd fun things that you might have to deal with (if you somehow learn to be a PM using other books). Even though the chapters are linked with some sort of coherent idea, the content of the book rarely goes further than "10 reasons to say No to a new feature".
If you are trying to understand the essence of product management and learn what is important in this business, this is not the right solution - it is more of a fun read than a useful resource.
As they say at the beginning of the book, "Intercom on Product Management" was compiled from a series of blog posts and articles on various product-related topics and I must say it shows. The book doesn't cover any of the important things in product management and shows only odd fun things that you might have to deal with (if you somehow learn to be a PM using other books). Even though the chapters are linked with some sort of coherent idea, the content of the book rarely goes further than "10 reasons to say No to a new feature".
If you are trying to understand the essence of product management and learn what is important in this business, this is not the right solution - it is more of a fun read than a useful resource.
December 31, 2017
Uma leitura rápida sobre aspectos importantes do Gerenciamento de Produtos. É uma introdução legal ao tema, sobre definição de roadmaps, prioridades, lançamento de novas features, etc. Para quem está fazendo um bom trabalho, o essencial é saber dizer não para novas demandas descoladas do propósito do produto. Ser fiel ao propósito do produto é essencial para atingir bons resultados, porém é algo muito difícil que deixamos de lado. Leia primeiro esse, e depois o https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... para uma visão geral da área.
August 25, 2017
This is a small, concise and introductory book on Product Management. Even it's based on the original blog posts, you feel like they were well curated and polished in order to give life to this book.
It's fulfilled by authors experiences, with successes and failures. But, its lack of scientific references and profound researchs makes this piece a little shallow.
As I said before, that's a great introduction to a much wider subject.
It's fulfilled by authors experiences, with successes and failures. But, its lack of scientific references and profound researchs makes this piece a little shallow.
As I said before, that's a great introduction to a much wider subject.
March 31, 2019
One of those quick collections of blog posts companies pack together and distribute as an ebook to get your email. Contentwise it's got the basics of product design including a good amount of links for further reading. It's well written with a lot of value in very little text. You can read it in a day and get good ideas on how to evaluate your current features, choose which features to build next and get a new feature used.
June 13, 2017
Um guia completo para o gerenciamento de produto. Completo, mas não aprofundado. Mas muito provavelmente irá te instigar a estudar e ir atrás dos pontos abordados.
Em determinados momentos da leitura, senti que o meu produto ainda está alguns passos atrás. Estou certo que irei abrir este livro novamente e reler alguns capítulos quando chegar a hora.
Em determinados momentos da leitura, senti que o meu produto ainda está alguns passos atrás. Estou certo que irei abrir este livro novamente e reler alguns capítulos quando chegar a hora.
December 1, 2017
Intercom does it again. They have nailed the art of product management and are evangelizing it well too. This book is a quick glance at what a PM should and should not do, common caveats, tips and tricks. It also links some brilliant articles and books. All in all a no-brainer must read for a newbie PM.
February 9, 2018
Fast & clear read, that's giving you the basics, some useful frameworks as well as pointing out a few slippery slopes of product management. And that's basically it. More like a well-written blog post that could use a bit more research data or just dive deeper. Also, I do appreciate it for not being too salesy.
February 26, 2020
Набор советов в сжатом формате
Книга содержит набор советов для продукт-менеджера. Наверное ее будет полезно прочитать для тех кто уже в теме и хотел бы открыть для себя что-то новое.
Мало воды, сжато. Легко читается.
Но как первая книга по теме наверное не самое лучшее, хотя с учётом того что она небольшая - как старт для погружения в тему сойдет
Книга содержит набор советов для продукт-менеджера. Наверное ее будет полезно прочитать для тех кто уже в теме и хотел бы открыть для себя что-то новое.
Мало воды, сжато. Легко читается.
Но как первая книга по теме наверное не самое лучшее, хотя с учётом того что она небольшая - как старт для погружения в тему сойдет
November 10, 2021
taking baby steps into the world of digital products, this book is my gateway drug to PM.
it gave away so much insight into customer psychology, product features, and much more. I very much enjoyed reading it and it did fuel much of my startup-related curiosity.
if you're an early founder / just getting started on PM, I 100% recommend this book.
it gave away so much insight into customer psychology, product features, and much more. I very much enjoyed reading it and it did fuel much of my startup-related curiosity.
if you're an early founder / just getting started on PM, I 100% recommend this book.
July 11, 2018
I actually enjoyed reading this “collection of blogposts”. Of course, if I have put the expectations high, I would have not given it 4-stars. But it did meet my expectations of summarizing the product management activities while adding a pinch of advice here and there. Quick, nice read.
April 3, 2019
Clean book on introductory notes to product management.
Helps you with methodology to avoid feature creep - which is the bane of first time entrepreneurs who think their product must have every feature under the sun!
Helps you with methodology to avoid feature creep - which is the bane of first time entrepreneurs who think their product must have every feature under the sun!
June 19, 2020
Very basic book overall but i like concept of feature audit and killing.
- Feature audit (kill, improve, increase adoption or frequency)
- Ulwick opportunity algorithm (https://jobs-to-be-done.com/quantify-...)
- No to new features / know where your product ends
- Feature audit (kill, improve, increase adoption or frequency)
- Ulwick opportunity algorithm (https://jobs-to-be-done.com/quantify-...)
- No to new features / know where your product ends
November 9, 2020
Great short book with practical advise on how to think and approach the day-to-day issues a PM faces. The "shorts" lists (which have sometimes 11 points) can get a bit tedious but still rather useful.
August 21, 2021
Work-related. Good (and short) read on product management. Nice summaries on (1) evaluating your own product, (2) learning to say no features that can put you off track, (3) how to better evaluate what to build, and (4) ways to incentivize usage.
March 26, 2022
Probably the best handbook I've read on product management. It's short, to the point and covers the key aspects of feature prioritisation, adoption, audits and most importantly saying no to features.
A must read for product managers imo.
A must read for product managers imo.
May 28, 2017
A must read book for every PMs out there!
July 21, 2017
Short, smart & deep. These guys know how to talk to customers. 101 reading for PMs.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews