Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value
- Downloads：5473
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-03-05 03:15:52
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Melissa Perri
- ISBN：149197379X
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
To remain innovative in today s market， companies have to adopt a culture of learning and customer-centric practices that are focused on outcomes rather than outputs。 This book provides product managers with a practical process that focuses on finding opportunities to solve customer problems and achieve business goals。
Author Melissa Perri provides a toolbox of product management principles that can be applied to any company， big or small。 By understanding the secrets to communicating and collaborating within a company structure， you ll learn how to overcome product development roadblocks and build products that benefit both the business and the customer。
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Author Melissa Perri provides a toolbox of product management principles that can be applied to any company， big or small。 By understanding the secrets to communicating and collaborating within a company structure， you ll learn how to overcome product development roadblocks and build products that benefit both the business and the customer。
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Reviews
Linkers
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Great walkthrough of why companies end up in the build trap and how to avoid it。In short， let outcome over output become your mantra and try to spread that across your organisation and you'll be a whole lot better off。 Great walkthrough of why companies end up in the build trap and how to avoid it。In short， let outcome over output become your mantra and try to spread that across your organisation and you'll be a whole lot better off。 。。。more
Vikrama Dhiman
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This book starts off really well but loses the plot as the topic of Process comes in and is fully derailed when Organisation comes in。 It is still a *very good* book and several factors better than most books on product management because it is *highly practical*。 It doesn't just give some ideal outcomes without specific steps to get there。 Also， the first two chapters on Role and Strategy is outstanding though。 I believe this book is best for PMs who are starting off （especially lateral hires f This book starts off really well but loses the plot as the topic of Process comes in and is fully derailed when Organisation comes in。 It is still a *very good* book and several factors better than most books on product management because it is *highly practical*。 It doesn't just give some ideal outcomes without specific steps to get there。 Also， the first two chapters on Role and Strategy is outstanding though。 I believe this book is best for PMs who are starting off （especially lateral hires from other disciplines） and Manager， PM - PMs who have just started managing others。 Read the first two topics again and again。 And print the Appendix on 'Are you product led'！- Who came up with the last feature or product idea you built？- What was the last product you decided to kill？- When's the last time you talked with your customer？- What is your goal？- Who are you currently working on？- What are your product managers like？ 。。。more
John Piotrowski
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Really clear and informative PM how-to book。
Aral Roca Gomez
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Quite boring。。。
Brodie Gron
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Uses the “build trap” as a window into all aspects of product management and product organisations。Sound theories but over-the-top with the real life examples and anecdotes。 Kind of like *checks notes* every other business methodology book ever written。
Michael Payne
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Focus on outcomes， not output。 That is the key message for escaping the build trap。Too much of modern product management values output of each sprint， over impact on each customer。 Keep the customer the hero on the journey and deliver value obsessively for customers and you are well on your way to escaping the build trap。The first half of the book was strong and on message。 The second half carried on a bit itself falling into build trap by delivering more bulk than substance。
Tom
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Lovely extension after I read the book 'Inspired' of Marty Cagan。 Also， this book strengthens your awareness of proper product development focusing on outcomes， instead of output Lovely extension after I read the book 'Inspired' of Marty Cagan。 Also， this book strengthens your awareness of proper product development focusing on outcomes， instead of output 。。。more
Damian Zydek
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Do you want to know how to conduct agile projects in a large company？ If yes， this might be an introductory book for you。This book speaks about problems in project management:- when projects have their end date， without a space for experiments， and more than one iteration。- when during the project you can not change the requirements， even when you know that they are not giving value- when risky projects are not welcome because failure is not an optionSome key takeaway from this book:- Create a v Do you want to know how to conduct agile projects in a large company？ If yes， this might be an introductory book for you。This book speaks about problems in project management:- when projects have their end date， without a space for experiments， and more than one iteration。- when during the project you can not change the requirements， even when you know that they are not giving value- when risky projects are not welcome because failure is not an optionSome key takeaway from this book:- Create a vision and strategy， set goals。- Experiment， measure results， improve - do it iteratively， adopt changes quickly， accept failures。- Talk with users to know what is the most important to do next。Unfortunately， in the end， without organizational changes， described agile form of conducting projects will not be possible - and this book doesn't show how to achieve that。 。。。more
Paweł Skorupiński
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By far， the best book on product management I have read。 It gets the essence in such a concise manner just right。
Krishna Vempati
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The first 9 chapters are “ok” and not so insightful as most of the concepts introduced are already well-established today。 However， Melissa Perri does a great job in demonstrating outcomes-based product management by walking the reader through a case study and some real-world examples。Not a 5/5， but not too bad either。 I would have selected 4。5 if that was a thing on Goodreads。
Lawrence
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Explains how product management should be run。 Great real life examples and case studies。
Calvin McCafferty
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The descent continues。。。 Stay tuned for more spicy， 3-star reviews of product management books that I get from work。 Not particularly well written， but I learned a thing or two。 3 stars。
Dian Perdhana
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This is the book that everyone should read， not just product managers。
Dimitrios Zakas
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Entry level book to product management。 Good reference of further resources and frameworks but didn't dive a lot to each area like roadmaps， user testing etc。 Good and easy read overall Entry level book to product management。 Good reference of further resources and frameworks but didn't dive a lot to each area like roadmaps， user testing etc。 Good and easy read overall 。。。more
yewwai
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Excellent and must read for Product professionalsEye opening and actionable insights。 The example highlighted are very real in many organizations today。 Looking forward to apply some of the learnings from this book
Gabe Morazan
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Regularly suggest this book to new product managers or those interested in getting into product management。 Melissa does an excellent job summarizing the issue with product teams not running at their full potential and the lost value， time， and money the comes as a result。 Highly recommended for anyone in， or interested in， product management， at any level。
Yixing J
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Disappointed。 Not sure why this book got high ratings。 The author only discussed things at really high level， with a fiction company。 And the things she shared are all pretty basic， I did not learn anything new from it。
Paweł Bogdan
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To na pewno dobra pozycja dla osób， które nigdy nie pracowały w organizacji nastawionej na produkt。 Polecam zwłaszcza rozdział 16。 - właśnie w ten sposób powinno się rozmawiać o inicjatywach！Walorem książki jest skupienie się na organizacji produktowej z lotu ptaka。 Autorka dużo pisze o miejscu produktu w ramach biznesu， strukturze firmy czy wizji oraz strategii。 Nie ma zbyt wiele tego typu treści na rynku。Na minus często zbyt zawiły język i teoretyzowanie。 Może byłem zbyt mało wnikliwym czyteln To na pewno dobra pozycja dla osób， które nigdy nie pracowały w organizacji nastawionej na produkt。 Polecam zwłaszcza rozdział 16。 - właśnie w ten sposób powinno się rozmawiać o inicjatywach！Walorem książki jest skupienie się na organizacji produktowej z lotu ptaka。 Autorka dużo pisze o miejscu produktu w ramach biznesu， strukturze firmy czy wizji oraz strategii。 Nie ma zbyt wiele tego typu treści na rynku。Na minus często zbyt zawiły język i teoretyzowanie。 Może byłem zbyt mało wnikliwym czytelnikiem， ale czasami niewiele wynikało z rozdziałów które przeczytałem。 Zabrakło mi zaś przede wszystkim większej ilości przykładów， wejścia w detale oraz zwartych podsumowań。 。。。more
Jose Sanchez
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Excelente libro， una guía llena de herramientasMe gusto mucho este libro， es realista y despliega intenciones reales de cómo poder llevar a una empresa a lograr sus estrategias de producto。Aunque esta ceñido a hablar de producto esconde el secreto de implementar una correcta transformación digital y ágil。
Jack
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Melissa Perri defines the build trap as when companies get stuck on outputs rather than outcomes。 An output is what a team or company produces （features） whereas an outcome is what the customer or business wants。 The book advises on solving these problems through measuring customer and business value and then experimenting to maximize said value。 She seems to believe the best way of doing this is to reorganize around products and hiring an entire department of product managers。 The book however， Melissa Perri defines the build trap as when companies get stuck on outputs rather than outcomes。 An output is what a team or company produces （features） whereas an outcome is what the customer or business wants。 The book advises on solving these problems through measuring customer and business value and then experimenting to maximize said value。 She seems to believe the best way of doing this is to reorganize around products and hiring an entire department of product managers。 The book however， is a little confused on this point and instead sometimes emphasizing organizational mindset rather than team structure。 The book’s strengths are her ideas around value measurement， strategy and experimentation which I don’t see closely coupled with the introduction of product managers。 This review therefore focuses on the strengths and leaves the company reorganization。She articulates the difference between sales led， technology led and product led companies。 “Sales led companies let their contracts define their product strategy”。 Sales led companies are assuming that one customer’s needs are likely to be that of another companies。 Those that do this are likely to get stuck being a bespoke operator and not scale well。 Technology led companies instead try and invent the latest and greatest technologies often mistaking cool for useful。 Product led companies optimize for their business outcomes by aligning their product strategy to these goals。Throughout the book it is clear that you need to relate outcome metrics with output metrics （metrics that the team can directly affect）。 The linkage between these two things is clearly very difficult。 Perri recommends starting with “Why is this going to add value to customers” and then “how do we determine and measure that value”。 She advises to separate things into Facts （known-knowns）， Questions （known-unknowns）， intuitions （unknown-knowns） and Discovery （Unknown-Unknowns） this helps articulate what you are taking on faith from that you are sure about。 She urges to be as data driven as possible。 She recommends a variety of different metrics， including Pirate Metrics and Heart Metrics， and links to further reading to give ideas on good practices for measurement of software products。 For a company to become value orientated this seemed like the most important point and probably the hardest to get right。 It led me to read “Measure what matters” by John Doerr。 Perri uses Stephen Bungay’s definition of strategy – “Strategy is a deployable decision making framework， enabling action to achieve desired outcomes， constrained by current capabilities， coherently aligned to the existing context。” This differentiates it from a plan， “a policy designed to achieve an aim”， which many companies do in strategic planning meetings。 She states that if strategy is needed to be redefined on a time-scale， most commonly annually， then the company is planning and not creating a strategic framework。 Having a plan rather than a framework creates misalignment across the entire company。 The misalignment comes in three gaps: Knowledge， Alignmnet and Effects 。Organizations often try and solve this by micromanaging demanding more information， direction， control。 Perri suggests that instead you need to enable action that is aligned with the outcomes the company desires。 She believes that instead you need a “Product Kata” which is a minor expansion from the “Toyota Kata”: understand the direction， analyze the current state， set the goal then experiment towards the target condition。 The key parts to get right are the goal setting， measurement （or in Doerr’s words Objective and Key Results） and the desire to experiment。Given the uncertainty between the output of teams and the outcomes for the customer and business product development should be seen as a series of experiments and options/bets。 At different parts of the book Perri describes an experimentation method to learn and options （bets） to earn。 Experiments should be short， capital light and follow the standard scientific method （create hypothesis， construct experiment， analyze result）。 The data from the experiment should then be used to create an option or bet which is a strategic piece of development designed to change a customer or business outcome。 These should be measured against those customer or business outcomes。 。。。more
Antti Alakiikonen
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Really great read for people in product organizations， even if one is not in product management。 It is really important to understand the role of product manager， and how the company can build products that solve real needs。 This books gives a lot of actionable insight into steering the company into better direction
Gabriel
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Sem teorias complexas ou recomendações fora de realidade， tudo muito simples e efetivo。 Livro muito bom sobre produtos digitais！
Marcin Golenia
，
This book is one of the type of books that builds the right way of thinking。 It describes the antipatterns （I love the waiter antipattern！） and output focus flaws then it shows how PM may act， how the team could work， how the company may support product led mindset。What I really liked is that it also mentions scrum and product owners。 The short chapters about roadmaps or company budgeting are just great and。。。 too short :）The book won't give you any tools （like product canvas， personas canvas， 9 This book is one of the type of books that builds the right way of thinking。 It describes the antipatterns （I love the waiter antipattern！） and output focus flaws then it shows how PM may act， how the team could work， how the company may support product led mindset。What I really liked is that it also mentions scrum and product owners。 The short chapters about roadmaps or company budgeting are just great and。。。 too short :）The book won't give you any tools （like product canvas， personas canvas， 9x9 framework。。。 etc） that you can just take and start to use。 You will have to learn them elsewhere， but that's ok for me - I am happy that the book is not too big :） It feels like the author had a strong sense of what she want to do with the reader。 More words would make that impression just blur。 。。。more
Marcin
，
From the developer perspective: a short book， an eye-opener since the very beginning， which does a 180-degree turn on belief in coworkers knowledge about product development。 After the reading， I realized my project is built on luck instead of a structured process。 It explains why some of the features are hardly ever used in production。 Reading about mistakes and finding out similarities was painful yet instructive。I wish there were more examples and tools to help a company become product-led
Ashish Nanchahal
，
A very crisp read， thought provoking insights from an insider。Highly recommended for product centric professionals。
Kevin Dieu
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Great book to frame a very very common problem in any industry with product managers。 Recommended read for any PMs who want to elevate their impact by changing the their company’s culture to one that is product-led。 Melissa pulls from her many years of experience to help readers recognize the many areas where the “build trap” can surface - and how to overcome them。
João Quitério
，
Good overview of what's needed to create an effective Product Management organization and escape the build trap （focusing on outputs instead of outcomes）， a very difficult transition for many organizations that requires a new mindset and new organizational structures to succeed。 Good overview of what's needed to create an effective Product Management organization and escape the build trap （focusing on outputs instead of outcomes）， a very difficult transition for many organizations that requires a new mindset and new organizational structures to succeed。 。。。more
Liudas Belickas
，
A must read for a starting product owner。I feel it would be helpful for any senior leadership role to have a read through this
Lendl Meyer
，
This was so-so。 Most of the book is a fictionalized product management scenario that feels contrived。 There were a few helpful ideas， but even these were pretty high level。
Ahmad hosseini
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