Escaping the Build Trap

This was the first book on Product Management I’ve ever read, and I’m glad I started with such a solid one.

In my daily work, I collaborate closely with product owners, and I wanted to better understand their role: How do they work? What are their priorities? And how can our collaboration be more effective? What I appreciated most about this book is how clearly it structures the profession of Product Management and breaks down its many facets.

Perri highlights common pitfalls by describing bad practices and how to recognize them, while also providing examples of good Product Management and explaining why these can be so rare in practice. A central theme of the book is the importance of experimentation-minimizing upfront investment, reducing the startup costs of new initiatives, and then using metrics to monitor progress. Based on results, teams can decide whether to double down or abandon an idea in search of a better one.

It may sound straightforward, but in reality, things often get complicated when egos come into play-when managers focus more on proving themselves right than on achieving real results. That’s where this book proves especially valuable: it encourages readers to step back, look at their organization from a higher perspective, and reconsider whether the work being done is truly creating value.

If you’re a Team, Tech Lead, or more Senior Engineer, I recommend it. For Product Owners it’s a mandatory position.