Working notes from product people

Ask the people who’ve done it.

A free, searchable library of 1,799 of the best product-management essays, podcast episodes and posts, from Lenny Rachitsky, Marty Cagan, Teresa Torres and seven others, that answers your questions with citations.

For PMs, founders and anyone building products

Q:
Answers quote and cite the source notes

Unofficial · not affiliated with any author · every note links to the original

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Answers come from ten product leaders’ essays, podcasts and posts, not the open web.

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Each point carries a numbered citation that links to the note and to the original essay or episode.

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14 topics, from strategy to pricing to AI, and 33 common questions already answered.

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01 — Topics · the card catalogueBrowse by topic

Postfree essay or newsletter postPaidsubscriber post, summary onlyPodcastepisode with key learningsXpost on XHover a tag for the publication

3 more drawersBrowse all 14 topics →
Open drawer · 07

PM career & craft

472 notes · 92 people · 2005–2026
Lenny’s Newsletter · Free post♥ 301

How to get into product management

Jun 14, 2019 · 17 min

“The role of product manager (PM) is the most fascinating role within tech teams right now. PMs are closest to the center of the action, have a disproportionate amount of influence over key decisions, and often go on to start their own companies. It’s no surprise then that product management has begun to show up on lists of the best, hottest, and most promising careers in the U.S. (and not just in tech). Seven years ago, after joining…”

Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 402

The Magic Loop

Sep 19, 2023 · 22 min
Subscriber post — summary only

A guest post by former Amazon executive Ethan Evans introducing the Magic Loop, a five-step cycle for growing your career by doing your current job well, offering help to your manager, and asking for work tied to your…

@shreyas · Shreyas Doshi on X♥ 229
Most mid-career product people who are doing reasonably well make 2 implicit assumptions that affect their quality of life: 1. the ceiling of key product skills is just an inch higher than where they are now (i.e. they’re basically already at the ceiling) 2. the point of any upskilling is to get a…
Lenny’s Podcast85 min

What it takes to become a top 1% PM

Ian McAllister · Nov 20, 2022
Key learnings
  • New PMs should focus first on communicating, prioritizing, and executing, since other skills grow in importance with seniority.
  • Answer first and then explain; when asked a 'when' question, give a date, and grade yourself after feedback to improve…
  • Prioritization is a core PM skill across themes, projects, sequencing, scope, and personal time, and it strongly multiplies…
Lenny’s Podcast98 min

Building a long and meaningful career

Nikhyl Singhal · Jun 11, 2023
Key learnings
  • Think about your career as a product: work backward from the end state you want, and plan several steps ahead rather than…
  • Pursue a diverse set of experiences across pre-product-market-fit, scaling, inside-the-building and outside-the-building…
  • Early in your career, pick a lane of expertise (domain, crafting, market, organizational, growth) and build a story of what you…
Lenny’s Podcast78 min

A framework for PM skill development

Vikrama Dhiman · May 12, 2024
Key learnings
  • Early in your career, prioritize shipping concrete outputs and being useful to your team; strategic influence comes as you earn…
  • Keep producing hands-on artifacts like PRDs, strategy docs, and briefs even as you grow senior, since quality artifacts signal…
  • Work on your operating model: raise difficult issues without being difficult to work with, surface topics without centering…
@shreyas · Shreyas Doshi on X♥ 210
Something that’s changed rapidly in the past year: Product Managers who’ve historically viewed their role as “my main job is to execute” are finding it way harder to get hired at top companies than those who’ve viewed their role as “my main job is to make the product successful”

02 — FrameworksModels, annotated.

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03 — PeopleWho wrote the notes.

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04 — QuestionsAnswered from the notes.

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Where notes come from

NewsletterLenny’s Newsletter110 free posts, with a longer excerpt.
Subscriber postsSummary only233 paid posts: our summary, at most two short quotes, and a link.
PodcastLenny’s Podcast323 episodes, each with 5–8 key learnings and timestamps.
EssaysSVPG · The Beautiful Mess499 essays from Marty Cagan and John Cutler.
Substack & blogsShreyas · Julie · Jason · Hiten577 essays and posts from independent writers.
XPosts on product66 posts, filtered for product relevance.