Reading

Bookshelf

The books I credit for shaping how I think about product, systems, and building. Not a reading list - a working bibliography.

On my desk right now

InspiredReading

Marty Cagan
The source text for how empowered product teams actually work. Re-reading with the Aarchid project as the case study in my head.

Thinking in SystemsReading

Donella Meadows
Feedback loops, leverage points, and why most 'metrics that matter' are the wrong metric. Keeps me honest when modelling churn.

Books that shaped me

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

Ben Horowitz
A PM's tolerance for ambiguity comes from reading founders who lived inside it. This is the best example of the genre.

Good Strategy / Bad Strategy

Richard Rumelt
'Strategy is the application of strength against weakness.' I still use the diagnosis → guiding policy → coherent actions frame in every PRD.

Measure What Matters

John Doerr
OKRs done right. The 'how' of turning strategy into a ship-able quarter.

High Output Management

Andrew Grove
The operations manual for anyone who ships things through other people. Re-read every 18 months.

Designing Data-Intensive Applications

Martin Kleppmann
Not a PM book - but the single best source for reasoning about the systems my products actually run on.

The Mom Test

Rob Fitzpatrick
How to do customer research without flattering yourself. Short, sharp, and I quote it weekly.

Next up

Working Backwards

Colin Bryar & Bill Carr
Amazon's PR-FAQ in primary sources.

The Scout Mindset

Julia Galef
Calibration and updating beliefs - core PM meta-skill.

AI Engineering

Chip Huyen
For the AI PM playbooks I'm writing.

Think I'm missing one? Tell me - reading recommendations are welcome currency.