The Productologist

The Inmates are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper

I have been meaning to read this seminal text on application development and usability for some time (read: years), but somehow it always ended up on my reading list just below something else. After seeing some others reference the book and discuss conference talks where the author expanded on his theorems, I decided to bump The Inmates are Running the Asylum to the top of the list. After finishing it up, I was surprised, to say the least.

The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman

I spotted this book at my local library while perusing the business book section and was drawn to it by the fact that it was written by someone involved with IDEO.

For those of you who don’t know what IDEO is, they are a world renowned product design firm based out of the San Francisco Bay area. They are responsible for many product designs you are probably familiar with, such as the Palm V and HandSpring PDAs, the Swiffer sweeper, the interior of the Amtrak Acela commuter train and others. You can check out more about what they have done and what they do on their website.

Getting It Done by Roger Fisher and Alan Sharp

I picked this book up based on some positive reviews on Amazon and the fact that I recognized one of the authors from a popular sales/negotiation book that I was familiar with. The book covers a topic that is a common challenge for all types of Product Managers–how to lead through influence rather than hierarchy.

I mentioned late last year that I was planning to add some new features to The Productologist. Book Reviews is one of those new features.

My motivation is somewhat self-serving (isn’t it always that way?) in that I wanted to spend more time reading about topics that appeal to me professionally and this is the carrot/stick that I am using to accomplish that goal.

I do a good bit of reading already, online and off line, but most of it falls into two categories:

• Escapist fiction (primarily science fiction, but I’m also prone to political or societal farce, too)