Inspired Book Club Template
I created this post to share resources and my experience of taking product teams through Inspired.
Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan is an excellent book for product teams to learn about product management principles. The publisher describes it as “a master class in how to structure and staff a vibrant and successful product organization, and how to discover and deliver technology products that your customers will love―and that will work for your business.”
It’s a book I have read every year since 2016 and has had a significant impact on my career. I have read it as a group with my product teams and have recently created a few resources to take our current technology team through the book.
12-Week Reading Plan
The 12-week reading plan is designed to take teams through the book in one business quarter. Each week averages about 40 minutes of listening to the audiobook at 1X speed.
Weekly Discussion
Teams meet weekly to spend 5-10 minutes summarizing the key concepts and 20 minutes of discussion. In each discussion, the team captures key takeaways and product principles to apply.
If you have a larger group, I’d suggest breaking into small groups of 5-6 to discuss. Much larger than that, and it is difficult for everyone to get a chance to talk.
We had a large group of 26, our entire technology organization, including product managers, engineers, and leadership. The product managers discussed earlier in the week to facilitate the group breakouts with their product team. After the breakouts, we’d come back as a larger group, and each product team would share highlights from their discussion. We started meeting weekly for 30 minutes but moved to 45 minutes to have more discussion time.
Book Club Worksheet
The Inspired Book Club Worksheet has the following tabs to track key concepts and takeaways to customize for your teams.
Reading Plan- A 12-week reading plan with the number of pages, audiobook times at 1X & 1.5X speeds, and sample starter discussion questions.
Takeaways - A place for the team(s) to record and track things they want to start doing Now, Short Term (1-3 months), Mid-Term (4-6 months), and Long-Term (6+ months)
Principles - A place for the team(s) to call out fundamental principles and team norms that they want to apply.
Related Resources - A list of resources mentioned in the book and other related books, articles, videos, and podcasts.
Member List - A list of everyone in the book club and a way to collect group orders for each edition of the book (Hardcover, Kindle, or Audible)
Chapters - This lists each chapter, number of pages, and audiobook time for each chapter.
Version History - A place to record updates over time as the plan is refined and additional resources added.
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