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TRANSFORMED - Some Thoughts After Reading

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I finished reading "TRANSFORMED: Moving to the Product Operating Model" by Marty Cagan. This is not my usual a few thousand-word review—rather, it is a few aftermath thoughts.

You, as a reader, need to set the right expectations. If you read "INSPIRED" and "EMPOWERED," plus follow the SVPG (Silicon Valley Product Group) blog and watch Marty's interviews (which is my case), then you will find nothing new here.

This book is a logical continuation of Marty Cagan's previous works, focusing on organizational transformation. It streamlines the recent SVPG narrative into a single digestible source, empowering you with comprehensive knowledge.

With all that in mind, I consider "TRANSFORMED" a worthwhile and valuable reading.

If you are not familiar with Caganverse, I can still recommend it. However, you must read the previous books to get the complete picture. It touches on many topics that were explained before but without self-quotation. So this is an excellent point at which to start the journey.

I need to mention a shitty feeling you might have after reading those books:

  • "INSPIRED" trials, whether I am doing product manager work or a masked backlog administrator.
  • "EMPOWERED" makes you question your product leadership and whether you can become such a product leader.
  • "TRANSFORMED" questions the integrity of your organization and its capability to undergo such a transformation

I am convinced that triggering those feelings is intentional. I reflect a lot while reading, so it takes me longer to complete these books.

The "Product Operating Model" is a set of principles, not a framework or guideline, to transform your organization into something more innovative in shiny armor. That book is also for product coaches and others interested in the org-level transformation by:

  • Changing how you build
  • Changing how you solve problems
  • Changing how you decide which problems

These 3 points are enough to characterize the model and the book.

I like the transformation stories, especially ones told by people who participated in them, and the chapter about overcoming objections from different parties. While reading, I was also trying to put myself into an executive shoes who wants to transform a large enterprise. The author says it is a tough endeavor where external help is needed.

Is this book an advertisement for the SVPG consultant services? No, it is not.

It is a tool to popularize the Product Operating Model, a form of evangelism to encourage organizations to change their ways of creating valuable and commercially successful products. No certification is required to start applying those principles.

Only time will tell whether that model will spread around the world and scale, changing the way products are designed, developed, and delivered. Meanwhile, enjoy the book!

Best Book I Read in My Career - "Product Management in Practice" by Matt LeMay

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It was a sunny day in 2019 when I found myself in the largest bookstore in Dubai, surrounded by a sea of books. I had three hours to choose my next read, a decision that would shape my professional journey. After careful consideration, I picked up "Product Management in Practice" by Matt LeMay, a choice I've never regretted, even though "Building Products for the Enterprise" was a close contender.

Even though I read and appreciated both books in the end, that choice impacted my career without any doubt. At that time, I was a business analyst in an outsourcing software development company who desperately wanted to become a product manager in a product organization.

I can't say that the book made me a product manager. But it definitely impacted me as the professional I am today - for better or worse (I hope for the better). I read it 3 or 4 times while transitioning from a business analyst to acting as a PM. Each time, I was surprised at how much wisdom was placed in that slim book and how differently I looked at some things throughout the years. It is like a peaceful harbor, and you want a return after fighting yourself through multiple storms.

In 2024, I realized that the 2nd edition was published in 2022, so before writing this piece, I enjoyed reading it. There are many changes compared to the previous version, but it is the same brilliant book. Here, I will talk about the 2nd edition.

If it is not the best, then it is one of the best books about product management. Below, I will prove my point.

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Thoughts about "Team Topologies" by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais

This time, let's talk about "Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow," a book about organizational design written by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais.

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Looking at the title, this book is not about product management or business analysis...

Yes, you are right. This book is about constructing teams and establishing their interactions. It is not about my day-to-day work, but it is an area of my concern. I tend to read general books about management more and more. So we will discuss more such books in the future.

How did you find out about "Team Topologies"?

I heard about it during the Platform Engineering fundamentals course brought by Tyk (I have a fancy certificate, by the way). There were a lot of references to that book, so I decided to add it to my reading list. It is funny, but "Team Topology" references many other sources but combines them into a solid idea.

The book basically addresses the most common problem, probably on the humanity level.

What kind of problem do you mean? We have plenty of those.

Communication. The lack of it, to be precise.

Thoughts about "Building Products for the Enterprise: Product Management in Enterprise Software" by Blair Reeves and Benjamin Gaines

After a long break, I return to book reviews in the form of an internal dialog. That time it is one of the most valuable books I have read about Product management: "Building Products for the Enterprise: Product Management in Enterprise Software" by Blair Reeves and Benjamin Gaines.

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OK. I am glad you are finally talking about this book. It is an obvious question, but I must ask it. What this book is about?

The title is self-explanatory enough: the book is about being a Product Manager (PM) in a B2B Enterprise organization.

Sounds fair. What is so unique about working in the Enterprise compared to other PMs?

First, let's agree that Product management is a vast discipline. Every organization looks at it from a different angle. So, a PM's responsibilities and role definition might vary for similar products but from other businesses in the same market.

Enterprise PM differs from a startup PM in that the first needs to survive in a complex hierarchy, build relationships, and comply with an Enterprise's restrictions. Also, it depends on whether it is B2B, B2C, B2G, B2B2B, etc. That impacts a lot on how products are developed and sold.

I will paraphrase the book to not expand on this topic further. What makes PM in the Enterprise different:

  • business model: usually direct sales or subscription
  • specialization: very specialized products
  • the split between customers and users
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Thoughts about J. Gharajedaghi’s "System Thinking"

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This is a new rubric in my blog as I tried to avoid any posts about specific books before. I am taking some notes about the best books I have read. But those are not for the public eye. So this piece was not originally planned to be published. I just feel a need to share something with the world after I read a book in the title. Because that was a wonderful but pretty tough experience.

Before we begin, let’s make clear that:

  • It is not a review. I will not write about bad books in my blog. By default, any book which has a separate essay is worth reading. Period.
  • That will be in the form of an internal dialog.