Raymond Sheen with Amy Gallo (2015)

HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case

An inspiring product vision is seldomly enough to make things happen. Unless your business is a one person show, you will need to convince others to commit resources to your cause. Regardless if you’re asking venture capitalists to fund your next startup or negotiate the coming quarter’s budget with your finance department, a well-structured business case can be extremely persuasive.

The book doesn’t specifically cater to product managers in the software industry but is a general toolkit for anyone who wants to persuade others to invest in their ideas. Nevertheless, the approach that Sheen and Gallo lay out is highly useful for people in product leadership roles. The only downside is, that the HBR Guide really attempts to cover all it’s bases, and thereby can be a bit tedious for readers who already come equipped with real-world experience.