Previous editions sold more than 17,000 copies Now includes a CD-ROM with Excel Worksheet templates and features new chapters on product management brand strategy and international perspectives Linda Gorchels is a well-known product management authority, and the author of The Product Manager's Field Guide and The Manager's Guide to Distribution Channels

"Nobody asked you to show up." Every experienced product manager has heard some version of those words at some point in their career. Think about a company. Engineers build the product. Designers make sure it has a great user experience and looks good. Marketing makes sure customers know about the product. Sales get potential customers to open their wallets to buy the product. What more does a company need? What does a product manager do? Based upon Product School's curriculum, which has helped thousands of students become great product managers, The Product Book answers that question. Filled with practical advice, best practices, and expert tips, this book is here to help you succeed!

The definitive guide to product management—updated for a more digital, more global, more competitive business landscape The digital age is here to stay. That means the pace of business change will only increase and competitive forces will challenge you, and your role as a product manager. This is the book that provides the only definitive body of knowledge of product management that you and your product teams can use to optimize your product’s business. The Product Manager’s Desk Reference has long been the go-to resource for product managers who seek to deliver quantifiable benefits to their company. In this fully revised edition of this bestseller, veteran product management thought leader Steven Haines lays out a repeatable process for product management organizational transformation, providing a clear roadmap you can follow to become the entrepreneurial strategic thinker who can drive your organization (and your career) into the future! Packed with important updates and revisions, The Product Manager’s Desk Reference, Third Edition provides essential advice on: Companies with portfolio of digital and traditional products Utilization of various development methods (waterfall and agile) Product design methods to deliver better user experiences Strategic thinking and business analysis Cross-functional product team collaboration Product portfolio management and product discontinuation Room for error in today’s fast-paced business environment shrinks by the minute. Packed with an array of new tools, techniques, and best practices—along with an explicit emphasis on data, analytics, and product performance—this new edition of the definitive product management resource is a timely and actionable guide to kicking your product management strategies into high gear.

The essential guide to seamless product management for today’s fluid, unpredictable business world Long considered the most useful and insightful guide of its kind, The Product Manager’s Handbook has been fully revised and updated to give you the edge in today’s challenging business landscape. It features expanded coverage of product development processes, intelligence-gathering techniques (including social media), and a greater emphasis on international issues. This indispensable resource proves that the techniques and tools product managers use are similar—regardless of what industry they work in and what kind of products they manage. Simply put, this book has everything you need for superior job performance—whether you manage consumer or business-to-business products created by an organization that is hierarchical or horizontal. The Product Manager’s Handbook shows you how to integrate your organization’s disparate segments into a cooperative, results-focused unit that produces satisfying products—from initial design through the postpurchase experience. If your job is to create and commercialize products, it provides the information you need to: Balance breakthroughs and line extensions Create business cases—including competitive assessment, market requirements, and risk reduction Conduct gate reviews and beta testing and manage scope creep Get everything in order for a smooth product launch For those who manage existing lines, this guide provides: Specific tips for each of the 4Rs of product life-cycle management Brand guidelines Approaches to customer message management Advice on working with sales and the channel Clear, easy-to-read charts show you how to manage each crucial step from conception to completion, and practical checklists help you evaluate progress at every stage. Interviews with seasoned product management consultants and top-performing product managers provide you with dynamic, proven strategies for addressing potential problems in marketing, production, cross-cultural communication, and more. The Product Manager’s Handbook examines current market-leading companies, the latest research findings, and evolving customer perceptions to provide you with the tools you need to design, produce, and market winning products—and beat the competition at every turn.

New Product Development is one of the most important challenges facing organizations today. The Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) Handbook of New Product Development 3rd Edition provides an exceptional review of cutting edge topics for both new and experienced product development leaders. It offers a comprehensive and updated guide to the practices, processes and tools critical to achieving and sustaining new product/service development success in today’s world, delivering valuable information about the fundamentals as well as emerging practices such as venturing, virtual product development and the use of social media in NPD. As the premier global advocate for professionals and organizations working in the fields of new product/service development, PDMA has assembled in the Handbook unique content on the critical aspects of product development success including its 2012 Best Practices Research, Lessons Learned from its Outstanding Corporate Innovator Award Winners and keys to success from organizations with proven innovation track records. The 3rd Edition is an essential reference for anyone with responsibility for product development activities, from novices looking for fundamentals to experts seeking insights on emerging concepts, and is relevant for all functions and all product/service industries.

What is a game? -- The game industry -- Roles on the team -- Teams -- Effective communication -- Game production overview -- Game concept -- Characters, setting, and story -- Game requirements -- Game plan -- Production cycle -- Voiceover and music -- Localization -- Testing and code releasing -- Marketing and public relations.

The Talent Management Handbook explains how organizations can identify and get the most out of “high-potential people” by developing and promoting them to key positions. The book explains: 1. A system for integrating three human resources “building blocks”: organizational competencies, performance appraisal, and forecasting employee/manager potential 2. Six human resources conditions necessary for organization excellence 3. How to link your employee assessment process to career planning and development The Talent Management Handbook will help you design career plans that boost employee morale, as well as create and sustain excellence in your organization. It is full of simple, efficient, easy-to-follow methods for assessing, planning, and developing high-value people to meet your organization’s current and future needs. And it will help you combine your organization’s diverse human resources activities into a single, cogent system. Featuring best practices from leading companies as well as contributions from field experts who hold top positions in such leading HR consultancies as AON Consulting, The Hay Group, Hewitt Associates, Right Management Consulting. Sibson Consulting, and Towers Perrin, The Talent Management Handbook is an authoritative resource for creating and maintaining excellence in your organization through people management.