Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products
- Downloads：4368
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-03-29 13:17:21
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Marty Cagan
- ISBN：111969129X
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
What is it about the top tech product companies such as Amazon， Apple， Google， Netflix and Tesla that enables their record of consistent innovation？
Most people think it's because these companies are somehow able to find and attract a level of talent that makes this innovation possible。 But the real advantage these companies have is not so much who they hire， but rather how they enable their people to work together to solve hard problems and create extraordinary products。
As legendary Silicon Valley coach--and coach to the founders of several of today's leading tech companies--Bill Campbell said， "Leadership is about recognizing that there's a greatness in everyone， and your job is to create an environment where that greatness can emerge。"
The goal of EMPOWERED is to provide you， as a leader of product management， product design， or engineering， with everything you'll need to create just such an environment。
As partners at The Silicon Valley Product Group， Marty Cagan and Chris Jones have long worked to reveal the best practices of the most consistently innovative companies in the world。 A natural companion to the bestseller INSPIRED， EMPOWERED tackles head-on the reason why most companies fail to truly leverage the potential of their people to innovate: product leadership。
The book covers:
what it means to be an empowered product team， and how this is different from the "feature teams" used by most companies to build technology products recruiting and coaching the members of product teams， first to competence， and then to reach their potential creating an inspiring product vision along with an insights-driven product strategy translating that strategy into action by empowering teams with specific objectives--problems to solve--rather than features to build redefining the relationship of the product teams to the rest of the company detailing the changes necessary to effectively and successfully transform your organization to truly empowered product teams EMPOWERED puts decades of lessons learned from the best leaders of the top technology companies in your hand as a guide。 It shows you how to become the leader your team and company needs to not only survive but thrive。
Most people think it's because these companies are somehow able to find and attract a level of talent that makes this innovation possible。 But the real advantage these companies have is not so much who they hire， but rather how they enable their people to work together to solve hard problems and create extraordinary products。
As legendary Silicon Valley coach--and coach to the founders of several of today's leading tech companies--Bill Campbell said， "Leadership is about recognizing that there's a greatness in everyone， and your job is to create an environment where that greatness can emerge。"
The goal of EMPOWERED is to provide you， as a leader of product management， product design， or engineering， with everything you'll need to create just such an environment。
As partners at The Silicon Valley Product Group， Marty Cagan and Chris Jones have long worked to reveal the best practices of the most consistently innovative companies in the world。 A natural companion to the bestseller INSPIRED， EMPOWERED tackles head-on the reason why most companies fail to truly leverage the potential of their people to innovate: product leadership。
The book covers:
what it means to be an empowered product team， and how this is different from the "feature teams" used by most companies to build technology products recruiting and coaching the members of product teams， first to competence， and then to reach their potential creating an inspiring product vision along with an insights-driven product strategy translating that strategy into action by empowering teams with specific objectives--problems to solve--rather than features to build redefining the relationship of the product teams to the rest of the company detailing the changes necessary to effectively and successfully transform your organization to truly empowered product teams EMPOWERED puts decades of lessons learned from the best leaders of the top technology companies in your hand as a guide。 It shows you how to become the leader your team and company needs to not only survive but thrive。
Reviews
Paul Hays
，
Solid read on skills of Product managers and what's needed to setup a functioning Product development team。 Solid read on skills of Product managers and what's needed to setup a functioning Product development team。 。。。more
Peter Rod
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Great guide in how to create， maintain， motivate and manage teams in product development。 And simply how to empower them and which benefits stem from this approach。 Recommend to everyone with “product” in their job title （or description） leading or guiding teams。
Haffi
，
If you are running a startup or if your a product leader in your company you should probably read this book for due diligence。 In the worst case， you will disagree with it but most likely you will learn many new approaches to product work。
Chad P
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A well thought out and crafted text on how to build empowered teams。 From the best in the business—Marty Cagan， and help from Chris Jones。
Jase Sanders
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Truly fantastic， practical insights and advice from some of tech’s most proven product development experts。 No philosophy， no quips， no snappy “laws” or frameworks。 Builds on Inspired by leveling up the org stack to product leaders， managers， and coaches。 Recommended if you care about these topics at all。
Ebi Atawodi
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This is the book I wish I had when I started my product leadership career - a lot of which I had to learn through blood sweat and tears。 A must read。 It’s direct， cuts straight to the point， and arms you with tangible insights as a product leader。
Radoslava Koleva
，
First thing's first， whoever is interested in reading Empowered， I hope you've already read Inspired by the same author。 Both books for me have been foundational to my development as a product manager and an aspiring product leader。 While Inspired was all about what a great PM is and how does the PM bring their maximum contribution to the product development process， in Empowered the author goes one level up and focuses predominantly on the product people who manage product teams。 While the book First thing's first， whoever is interested in reading Empowered， I hope you've already read Inspired by the same author。 Both books for me have been foundational to my development as a product manager and an aspiring product leader。 While Inspired was all about what a great PM is and how does the PM bring their maximum contribution to the product development process， in Empowered the author goes one level up and focuses predominantly on the product people who manage product teams。 While the book is about why empowered product teams are the basis of good product work and should be used by all tech companies， in reality it's more of a product leader playbook which helps to create empowered and highly competent product teams。 I really enjoyed the huge emphasis he puts on coaching and 1-1s。 I have had a few managers who treated this as a chore （and cancelled it on regular basis）， or ones who simply don't do 1-1s。 In my mind that's outrageous and I treat my 1 hour with all my team mates as my most important meetings of the week。 It helps me to keep an overview of the team workload， and it gives the team all the support and attention on potential issues， so we tackle them in advance instead of waiting for problems to get escalated。 The author also recommends that the manager should give timely and detailed feedback to all team members on weekly/daily basis， instead of waiting for the "once per year" or similar HR evaluation。 Now， most importantly :） The book contains a super practical case study about OKRs。 I know that the term can sound intimidating or overly-fancy （"Google uses OKRs so it must be unattainable for us"） but I loved that chapter because it brings the whole management methodology so down to earth that we can all start thinking of ways to adopt it ourselves。OKRs are what makes product teams truly empowered and I'm doing my best to make the company I work for apply them to product development （or ideally - to the overall management of the business in all areas）。 The team I manage is trying to start this bottom-up but sponsorship in the exec levels is a must， in order for us to succeed。 Product succeeding in OKRs adoption = the company succeeding in reaching its business objectives。 。。。more
Emanuel Steininger
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One of the most inspiring books I‘ve ever read。 It‘s an impressive combination of conrete hands-on guidelines and a great description of the higher purpose of empowered teams。 Each chapter is on point。 What I personally really liked is that besides the fact that the author lists and explains all the necessary pieces needed to do a successfull transformation to empowered teams， he always acknowledges how difficult the way might be。 That‘s because it‘s not a different way to work， but a different One of the most inspiring books I‘ve ever read。 It‘s an impressive combination of conrete hands-on guidelines and a great description of the higher purpose of empowered teams。 Each chapter is on point。 What I personally really liked is that besides the fact that the author lists and explains all the necessary pieces needed to do a successfull transformation to empowered teams， he always acknowledges how difficult the way might be。 That‘s because it‘s not a different way to work， but a different way to think about work。I highly recommend this book to product leaders CPO， CTO and CEOs。 。。。more
Javad
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Great book for product leaders。
Matt Barnett
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An excellent resource for product leaders。 It’s thorough and inspiring。
Aksel Nooitgedagt
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This is so far the best book about product management I ever read。In my opinion， the most valuable thing about the book is， that it can be used as a handbook。 It is well-structured into parts， each of which has chapters。 E。g。 if I'll be working on our recruitment process， then I'll read some chapters about recruitment again。 If I'll be working on IT strategy in our organization， then I'll read chapters about it。The whole book is of course about creating Empowered Product Teams and touches most o This is so far the best book about product management I ever read。In my opinion， the most valuable thing about the book is， that it can be used as a handbook。 It is well-structured into parts， each of which has chapters。 E。g。 if I'll be working on our recruitment process， then I'll read some chapters about recruitment again。 If I'll be working on IT strategy in our organization， then I'll read chapters about it。The whole book is of course about creating Empowered Product Teams and touches most of the aspects an organization could need to know about， when trying to establish a culture of Product Teams。 As I understand， a lot of the books content can be found on svpg blog， but as mentioned before: in EMPOWERED， you'll get all this information served in a structured， well-thought-out way。 。。。more
Chris Downey
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A must read for anyone involved in product， not just product managers。
Moshe Mikanovsky
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Must read for anyone in product and especially product leadership roles。 It is not a repeat of Inspired as it focuses on the management of product teams， especially when setting visions and strategy， and coaching your product people。
Diego Pacheco
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Great Book。 Love the Feature Teams and you are a project manager， not a product manager。 Lots of cool insights and a really nice take on modern product organization。
Anton Nikolov
，
If you're involved in product development you will benefit from this book。 No bulshit and fluff！ Knowledge and principles that will help any product organisation to transform and deliver valuable outcomes。 It will help you do more with less。 If you're involved in product development you will benefit from this book。 No bulshit and fluff！ Knowledge and principles that will help any product organisation to transform and deliver valuable outcomes。 It will help you do more with less。 。。。more
Dave
，
Truly inspiring and candid experience from some of the most successful product leaders in the world。 A must read for all product managers & CEO’s for technology companies。 How to structure， organize and empower your product companies to succeed。
Raluca
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A must-read for any professional who is managing or working with product teams。 The book describes a lot of practices which are at core common sense， but which are not applicable in today’s organizations。 I love the idea of empowered product teams， who have the autonomy to solve problems， and who are not “feature machines”。 In order to get there a mindset shift needs to happen in organizations and leadership plays a key role in it。
Anna
，
Having read 2/3s of it， I consider this book really flat vs the expectation I built up from others’ fascination and it seems more like a hype to me。 I started reading in in anticipation of learning more about successful product management。 What I got， however， was a superficial collection of topics to lead product teams structured along 81 chapters。That’s actually where my first criticism starts: a large number of chapters have very few pages。 Often， it seems more like the authors brush over som Having read 2/3s of it， I consider this book really flat vs the expectation I built up from others’ fascination and it seems more like a hype to me。 I started reading in in anticipation of learning more about successful product management。 What I got， however， was a superficial collection of topics to lead product teams structured along 81 chapters。That’s actually where my first criticism starts: a large number of chapters have very few pages。 Often， it seems more like the authors brush over something adjacent that they have no expertise or deeper insight to discuss （e。g。; Chapter 17: Stakeholder Collaboration - 3 pages， Chapter 39: Product Principles and Ethics， Chapter 68: Business Results - 2 pages）。 As a consequence， one learns little more than that this topic is also important， needs to be taken care of， and can be a cause of ineffectiveness。 It often triggered a “you don’t say” reaction in me。Following this first point， I notice as a second that this seems more like a “look-up” resource， a sort of “product wiki” which you can look up basic terms of product management。 Examples would be: “what is team topology”， what are team OKRs”， “what is product evangelism”。 It’s good to look up a first piece of information on any subject; but you will rarely find something really enlightening。 One illustrative quote is below:“Evangelism Skills Especially in medium to large-sized companies， so much of product involves persuasion。 This involves convincing your team and your stakeholders that you understand what you need to do， and you've got a solid plan to deliver。“What 2 stars then？1。 Benefit of the doubt for the remaining 1/32。 I found it useful the put a name to the often observed phenomenon of a “feature team” - building stuff organized on backlog/roadmap versus a “product team” （platform or experience） which is not there to “serve the business” and “deliver capacity” but truly build great product under a multi-year vision。3。 I quite liked the Product Manager profiles and understanding how some leaders have put this in action。 （again short 2-3 pages long） 。。。more
Julio Lopes
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A must for any product leader or aspiring product leader。
Alexandra Craciun
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If you work in developing Tech products， then this is probably a good book to read。。。However if you already read Marty’s first book Inspired， then you can definitely skip it。 I was slightly dissappointed to see that he has re-rewritten Inspired + a study case at the end on how you can apply some of the principles in the books。 I do like Marty Cagan， but he could have done better with this book， especially since it’s coming with a high price tag。
Levi Nelson
，
Cagan continues to provide the best handbooks in the business for "product people" as he calls them。 A must-read for anybody leading engineering， product， or design。 Cagan continues to provide the best handbooks in the business for "product people" as he calls them。 A must-read for anybody leading engineering， product， or design。 。。。more
Blake
，
Fantastic read！ I'm a big fan of Marty Cagan's views and suggestions for Product processes and this book is an amazing follow-up to the product discovery overview provided in "Inspired"。 This covers more on the organizational and manager/director view for product teams which is incredible for where I'm at currently as a Group PM。 Fantastic read！ I'm a big fan of Marty Cagan's views and suggestions for Product processes and this book is an amazing follow-up to the product discovery overview provided in "Inspired"。 This covers more on the organizational and manager/director view for product teams which is incredible for where I'm at currently as a Group PM。 。。。more
Viktor Lototskyi
，
Thankfully， my fears that there will be some major overlaps with an INSPIRED were false。 Authors put together a very solid and up-to-date foundation for the success of product-driven companies， relevant for anyone in IT。 Moreover， there're many great references to books and materials that cover in-depth various relevant topics。 Thankfully， my fears that there will be some major overlaps with an INSPIRED were false。 Authors put together a very solid and up-to-date foundation for the success of product-driven companies， relevant for anyone in IT。 Moreover， there're many great references to books and materials that cover in-depth various relevant topics。 。。。more
Krishna Vempati
，
I found the insights shared in this book to be quite practical and useful。 Too many organizations calling themselves product-led are anything but that。 I was able to relate many of the anti-patterns highlighted in this book to my own experiences at previous workplaces。
Migle
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Great book for self-assesment。 Must read for product leaders staffing a team。
Sebastian Gebski
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Direct continuation of "Inspired" - it picks it up where "I" has left it， so a reader doesn't have to go through the basic terminology， but "stacks up" more upon the foundations。The form is equally good - clear， concise， to-the-point。 It's not really based on facts and anecdotes - more like a synthesis of highly opinionated thoughts。 But in my case I wasn't eager to question anything - my observation and experiences match the learnings Cagan brings to the table。What are the concepts this book is Direct continuation of "Inspired" - it picks it up where "I" has left it， so a reader doesn't have to go through the basic terminology， but "stacks up" more upon the foundations。The form is equally good - clear， concise， to-the-point。 It's not really based on facts and anecdotes - more like a synthesis of highly opinionated thoughts。 But in my case I wasn't eager to question anything - my observation and experiences match the learnings Cagan brings to the table。What are the concepts this book is about？ There's a lot about coaching， effective decision making， staffing and shaping up the team topology， the importance of proper product vision and strategy。 In general - very good stuff and worth reading through。What didn't I like？ The case study felt very dry - I'd rather prefer some real life cases with fact-based anecdotes backing up Cagan's statements。 But still - I honestly recommend "Empowered" - both money and time well spent。 。。。more
Gerard Chiva
，
With all due respect。 Nothing new but great advice condensed in one book。 If you want to know what a modern product organization looks like， this book is for you。
Jess
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After 23 Years building software products with teams I felt seen。 Especially the nod to those with a background in theatre。 Great insights in this book and much of it actionable。
Simon Hohenadl
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A good extension to Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love。 Not much new for me， but a comprehensive and well-written body of knowledge on product leadership。 A good extension to Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love。 Not much new for me， but a comprehensive and well-written body of knowledge on product leadership。 。。。more
Samantha Yeh
，