Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

By Nir Eyal with Ryan Hoover

Here is part of this book’s description from the back cover:

Hooked is a guide to building products people can’t put down. Written for product managers, designers, marketers, startup founders, and people eager to learn more about the things that control our behaviors, this book gives readers:

– Practical insights to create user habits that stick.
– Actionable steps for building products people love.
– Behavioral techniques used by Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and other habit-forming products.

Given that description you might be wondering why I am recommending this book for you. After all, it is unlikely that you are trying to develop the next addicting online product. In fact, you likely don’t develop any kind of “product.”

That doesn’t change the value of this book for you.

While the examples in this book are mostly internet-based, that isn’t what the book is really about. This book is really about how we form habits, and how we can then “bake that into” the things we do create.

The book is based around what the author calls The Hook Model shown here. The book does a fine job of walking us through this model, and specifically how it applies to product development.

The fact is as a leader and person interested in personal and professional development, while you may not care about product development, knowing all you can about how we develop habits is of great importance. If we are leading others (or parenting), we benefit by knowing how we can help people develop desired habits. And knowing that for ourselves is of great value as well.

This book delivers insights into the habit building process based on examples and research. It is a bit dense at times, and it has perhaps the smallest margins of any book I have ever seen. Yet it is interesting and relevant, and reaches its goal in 138 pages.

This is an example of where reading outside your normal comfort zone can be of great benefit. Pick up a copy of this book and you will benefit. You might also begin to understand why Candy Crush, Facebook, Twitter engage people so well.