Where I Find Inspiration for Product and Team Management
By Filip Měrka, Product Owner at Navmatix
A lot of my thinking about product and team management comes from books and podcasts with their authors. I also value the chance to discuss ideas with other people at conferences and courses. These are some of the sources I keep coming back to.
Focus on the outcome
Two books by Marty Cagan have had a strong influence on how I think about my work: Inspired, which focuses on product management, and Empowered, which focuses on leadership.
The idea I take from both is simple: the amount of work we deliver matters less than whether that work has the intended impact. In other words, output < outcome.
Teresa Torres explores a related idea in Continuous Discovery Habits. Research and analysis are not just a phase before development begins. If we want to build and sustain a successful product, we need to keep learning throughout its development.
Help people do their best work
I am currently reading Simon Sinek’s Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last. What has stayed with me so far is the importance of purpose and trust. When people understand why they are doing something, believe in it, and trust both the company and one another, they have the space to work toward the best result. I see a clear connection here to Cagan’s ideas.
Jan Mühlfeit’s The Positive Leader offers another useful perspective on teams. Its central idea, as I understand it, is that developing our strengths is far more valuable than focusing our efforts on improving our weaknesses.
Understand the problem first
I also follow Chris Do’s YouTube channel, The Futur. It is not specifically about product management, but it has given me many useful ways to look at a problem from the perspective of the person facing it, whether that is a user, a customer, or a company. His book Pocket Full of Do brings together ideas from many fields, including personal life.
Books are only part of it. Last week, I attended Agile Prague 2026, with talks, workshops, and discussions on different aspects of agile development. I have also attended WaysConf twice to explore digital product development.
Across these sources, I keep returning to the same questions: Do we understand the problem? Will our work make a difference? And are we giving the team what it needs to find the best solution?
The idea I keep coming back to is this: delivering something is only part of the job. Understanding whether it helped is just as important.
Which book, conversation, or experience has changed the way you approach your work?
