5 Recommended Books for Young Tech Marketers

Keep learning, even outside of your workplace.

2020 has allowed me to hit at least one of my new year’s resolutions: to read 1 book a month. When I share this with people, it often follows with the question of “What books would you recommend?” I thought I’d put some of my recommendations out here, starting with a few books that really helped me as a young marketer trying to navigate the world of tech.

The books below have, each in their own way, improved the way I’ve approached my work. I hope you find something helpful in this short list.

My Book Recommendations

Creative Confidence by Tom Kelley and David Kelley

I’d recommend this book to anyone who’s looking for a great introductory read on design thinking or if you're simply looking for tips to think more creatively.

Written by the people behind the renowned design and innovation consultancy IDEO, this book highlights that everyone has the capacity for creativity (that it’s not just limited to ‘designers’ or people with typical ‘creative’ roles) and shares how the design thinking methodology can help achieve that. I liked how they demonstrated that creativity can help us solve problems or improve user outcomes. Sometimes what we need can be put together with resources that are already on hand, versus trying to build a solution from scratch.

Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A Moore

Read this to learn how to scale tech products to larger markets.

We’ve all heard about the technology adoption life-cycle in school, but many lecturers fail to highlight the huge barrier, or ‘chasm’ in Moore’s words, between the early adopters and the early majority. The early majority waits until the product has proven value for improving their lives or their productivity. Innovators and early adopters however, are motivated by the vision of what the product could accomplish - which means they are not the ideal reference audience for any marketer who’s trying to bring a product to the larger market. In all honesty, I did find this book a little dry. Regardless, it contains many invaluable lessons for any marketer or product manager who needs to drive product adoption.

Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland

This is one of my all-time top reads. I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in learning about Scrum or simply looking for effective frameworks for project management.

Tight timelines, delays and a never ending onslaught of new requests are a reality in any fast-paced tech company. I first heard of Scrum from engineers and product managers at work. It’s surprising how it was never even mentioned once throughout my four year marketing degree. So I turned to this book, written by the co-creator of Scrum himself. This book is tailored to show how Scrum can be applied to improve processes and achieve outcomes at work and beyond the walls of any tech company - from house renovation projects, to government and education. It’s one of my all-time top reads till this day.

Measure What Matters by John Doerr

OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are a simple but effective framework for goal-setting and management. Bill Gates recommends this book to anyone interested in becoming better managers and I couldn't agree more.

I’m glad I picked up this read before joining TikTok, where OKRs are used throughout the organisation. Doerr explains how OKRs fosters focus, transparency, collaboration and satisfaction within organisations. Framework aside, the book also provides a great inside look into some of the best tech companies of our time like Intel, Google, MyFitnessPal and Adobe. If you like case studies, this book is full of them, with first-hand accounts from the likes of Bill Gates, Sundar Pichai and Susan Wojcicki.

Hooked by Nir Eyal

I'd recommend this last one to anyone who wants build habit-forming, engaging products, without depending on costly advertising.

In this book, Eyal uses the psychology behind habits and reapplies them into a four-step framework he calls the Hook Model. It starts from a Trigger (e.g. an app notification), followed by an easy action (e.g. click on the notification), which in turn provides the person with a variable reward. The last step involves an ‘investment’ which increases the likelihood of repeating the Hook cycle by loading the next trigger. I found the book well-structured and full of practical advice. I also appreciated the fact that Eyal added a full chapter on the morality of manipulation. Product makers have a responsibility when creating user habits and he adds some advice on how we can reflect if the products we are building are truly being used to improve lives.

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That rounds up the list! Reading is essential to gaining in-depth knowledge on certain topics, plus a great way to unwind at the end of the day. I’m always looking for my next read so let me know your recommendations too.

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