best: product management manual

What is the best instruction manual for product managers?

Yee, Wong Herbert. Hamburger Heaven. New York: Scholastic, 2001.

(Amazon link)

In a review of this fine book, C. Posey wrote:

My son was delighted while we read this book. Tickled by fantastic illustrations and disgusting delicacies, he enjoyed the book from front to back. I used it as an opportunity to teach him about entrepreneurship, a not-so-obvious theme underlying the story.

While others' reviews have pointed out that the moral is about helping others, I believe it goes deeper than that. It is about Pinky Pig taking charge, and doing what is required to not only save her job, but to help grow the business she works for.

She performs market research (asking others what they'd like), planning and advertising (distributing the new menus in places her customers were most likely to frequent), and even delivering the desired product to the masses, which nets the business (and her personally) financial success, and loyal customers galore.

A great book with a moral? Yes. And a fantastic one about self-reliance at that.

This book is full of PM goodness that will stick in your head forever. Which is why it is the best product management manual ever. Recommended for readers of all ages.

PS: When I read this to my kids years ago they both said "that's what you do Daddy!" My son then asked when I was going to start a hamburger stand. He was not satisfied with my answer.

PPS: My reason for writing about this today was I found myself saying "it's the product our users want that is important, not the one that you or I want", and I was reminded of the line "Aardvark's burger has termites inside" from this book. Everything is Connected.