1st Edition

Power Up Product Management A Quick Start Guide

By Allison J. Taylor, Chris Naunheimer Copyright 2025
160 Pages 23 B/W Illustrations
by Productivity Press

160 Pages 23 B/W Illustrations
by Productivity Press

160 Pages 23 B/W Illustrations
by Productivity Press

Power Up Product Management: A Quick Start Guide delivers a compact guide with expert guidance, tools, and exercises that empower new product managers to excel in their first weeks in their new position. Learn what it takes to build and sell outstanding products, how to define product value to impact product success, and why real-world product managers have failed or succeeded in gaining market... Read more

Let Us Explain....................................................................................................................................................

Why did we write this book?

Introduction - Prepare to Succeed..............................................................................................................

Welcome!.................................................................................................................................................

Who is This Book For?...........................................................................................................................

How to Use This Book............................................................................................................................

Help Us Iterate.........................................................................................................................................

1.  Your Role as a Product Manager.............................................................................................................

A Day Without Product Management.................................................................................................

What exactly is a product manager?...................................................................................................

NOTE TAKING SECTION:......................................................................................................................

Getting to Know Your Product.........................................................................................................

What is Your Product?...........................................................................................................................

Creating Product Value.........................................................................................................................

Action Steps............................................................................................................................................

Key Insights.............................................................................................................................................

Resources.................................................................................................................................................

NOTE TAKING SECTION.......................................................................................................................

2.  People.............................................................................................................................................................

Getting to Know your Team..................................................................................................................

Action Steps............................................................................................................................................

Key Insights.............................................................................................................................................

Resources.................................................................................................................................................

NOTE TAKING PAGE.............................................................................................................................

3.  Knowledge.....................................................................................................................................................

The Search for Knowledge...................................................................................................................

Action Steps............................................................................................................................................

Key Insights.............................................................................................................................................

Resources.................................................................................................................................................

4.  Product Lifecycle Process...........................................................................................................................

Product Lifecycle Management Processes..........................................................................................

Product Stages........................................................................................................................................

Action Steps............................................................................................................................................

  Key Insights 

  Resources   

NOTE TAKING PAGE.............................................................................................................................

5.  Tech Development Processes....................................................................................................................

Technology Product Processes.............................................................................................................

Action Steps............................................................................................................................................

Key Insights.............................................................................................................................................

Resources.................................................................................................................................................

NOTE TAKING PAGE.............................................................................................................................

6.  Tools................................................................................................................................................................

Scaling to Deliver...................................................................................................................................

Artificial Intelligence for Product Management................................................................................

Roadmaps - The PM Bible.....................................................................................................................

Action Steps............................................................................................................................................

Key Insights.............................................................................................................................................

Resources.................................................................................................................................................

NOTE TAKING PAGE.............................................................................................................................

7.  Skills to Succeed...........................................................................................................................................

Managing the Mental Game.................................................................................................................

Top Three Categories of Skills.............................................................................................................

The PM Next Door.................................................................................................................................

Stepping Away to Re-Evaluate.............................................................................................................

Action Steps............................................................................................................................................

Key Insights.............................................................................................................................................

Resources.................................................................................................................................................

NOTE TAKING PAGE.............................................................................................................................

8.  Next Steps......................................................................................................................................................

Industry-Specific Product Management.............................................................................................

What Do You Do Now?.........................................................................................................................

Appendix............................................................................................................................................................

Community Contributions

Biography

Allison J. Taylor is a Silicon Valley technology go-to-market strategist and entrepreneur who has brought over 20 enterprise software solutions and services to market across 35 countries, representing over $3 billion in revenue. An award-winning cybersecurity veteran, Allison consults international senior leadership and their diverse cross-generational teams on growth strategies as Founder and CEO of consulting firm Thought Marketing. She is also a co-founder of AI tech start-up Discerna.ai. Allison’s clients have included Honeywell, EMC/Dell and GE, in addition to many early and mid-stage cybersecurity, SaaS, and cloud start-ups worldwide. Her vast operating experience adds a dynamic practitioner view, drawing from cybersecurity product leadership positions at McAfee and Nokia, strategist roles at Sun Microsystems (now Oracle), and corporate communications leadership at legendary cybersecurity pioneer Check Point Software. She has co-authored two Routledge, Taylor & Francis books, with a third on the way for Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Cybersecurity, in close collaboration with a global cross-discipline team of experts in law, medicine, and engineering. Allison founded her first company at age 24 and is a former Middle East journalist and New York City trade press editor. She is often described as an “energy bomb,” passionate about the human condition and its relationship with technology and innovation. Allison speaks multiple languages and holds an M.S. from San Jose State University (technology diffusion among software developers) and a B.A. in Spanish and Journalism from the University of Richmond, Virginia in addition to many domain-specific certifications.

Christopher Naunheimer is an adjunct faculty member and a capstone project advisor at Northwestern University in the Masters of Product Design and Development Management program. He has more than 20 years of experience at multi-national Fortune 500 industrial companies with leadership roles in engineering, R&D, strategic marketing, new product ventures, and user-centered design. Over his career, Chris has been named inventor on 25 granted US utility patents and brings this innovation and continuous improvement mindset to teaching. Coupled with his user experience design education and industry experience, his mindset brings a broad cross-functional skill set to his roles at Northwestern University. Chris is passionate about design and has a deeply held belief that we can use design to develop insights and solutions that can change people, cultures, and the world. He holds an M.S. in Product Design and Development Management from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois.