📣 Announcing a new Lewis C. Lin book: The Product Manager Interview

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My newest book, The Product Manager Interview, is now available!

It's an incredible book.

It reveals the newest, most advanced thinking on how to prepare for product management (PM) interviews including:

• NEW! 30-Day Facebook PM Interview Preparation Plan including product sense, execution & leadership questions
• 30-Day Google PM Interview Preparation Plan
• 36-Day Amazon PM Interview Preparation Plan

Don't miss out.

This is perfect for PM candidates who are looking for step-by-step guidance on how to prepare for specific companies, complete with practice problems and sample answers.

It also includes one of the most anticipated sections: a reference sheet of nearly 100 assumptions you should know for estimation and analytical questions including facts from the:

• Smartphone Industry
• Online Advertising
• eCommerce
• Enterprise Software
• Social Networks

Lastly, since it is the third edition (previously known as PM Interview Questions), I've made thousands of changes, including major overhauls, revisions, and in some cases complete rewrites of the 164 sample answers in the book.

With all the time invested, I'm proud to say that you will not find a more detailed product management interview prep book on the market.

Conquer those interviews,

Lewis C. Lin 🦊

P.S. I've also re-released my salary negotiation book under a new, more descriptive title, 71 Brilliant Salary Negotiation Email Samples. Check it out!

Sample Answer from The Product Manager Interview

Google Product Manager Interview Cheat Sheet (PM or APM)

CIRCLES Method™ featured in Business Insider

Let me start with good news. Decode and Conquer (D&C) sales have been scorching 🔥 this month!

If you've been following who gets job offers from Facebook 👥  and Google, you know that candidates prefer D&C over other PM interview prep books. 

Google's recruiters are also big fans of D&C.

Business Insider revealed that Google's recruiters prescribe my CIRCLES Method™ as the #1 method when preparing for product design questions.

Google recruiters also recommend my on-demand, coding interview prep materials too.

Brand New Google Product Manager Interview Cheat Sheet

Speaking of Google, I'm honored to share a brand new Google PM interview cheat sheet with all of you.

It's fun, colorful, and Googley. More importantly, it covers all the different question types you'd encounter at the interview including product design, technical, analytical, and strategy. 

This cheat sheet is based on my latest book, Secrets of the Product Manager Interview.

The Biggest Mistake Google PM Candidates Make

Google PM candidates erroneously believe that they the reason they didn't get a Google PM offer is because they failed the whiteboard coding interview.

That's incorrect.

#1 reason why candidates fail: poor responses to product design questions. 

What are product design questions? Here are two examples from actual Google interviews:

• How would you design a better smoke detector?
• Design an new iPad app for Google spreadsheet.

Product design questions aren't covered by the standard MBA curriculum nor consulting case interview prep.

There are a few reasons why product design questions are so challenging:

• Suffocating time pressure. Great products, such as the iPhone are not built in a day, let alone a 45-minute interview.
• Limited domain knowledge. How can candidates suggest smoke detector innovations if they don't know how they work?
• No support. Real-life innovation happens in teams; team members can build on each other's ideas. No such support system exists in a solitary closet-sized interview room.

To do well requires lots of practice. And the best place to start is the CIRCLES Method™.

How to Download the Google PM Interview Cheat Sheet

If I had a Google PM interview, and I could only bring one cheat sheet...this would be it.

Print out the high-resolution version of this cheat sheet, available in both JPG and PDF.

Conquer those interviews,

Lewis C. Lin