Decode and Conquer: Answers to Product Management Interviews Paperback – November 28, 2013

I spent 8+ years in product marketing at Google, during which I interviewed many, many candidates for roles at the new grad (APMM) and MBA+ (PMM) levels.First, I'll say that the book very clearly and accurately lays out the way Googlers conduct interviews for APMM/PMM roles and evaluates their responses. So if you've never been in a Google/Microsoft-style PM/PMM interview before, this book will give you a good idea of what you're in for.Second, when I dove back into the job market post-Google, I found this book provided a very helpful refresher for me - both in terms of the kinds of questions to expect and how to structure a compelling response. This, in turn, helped me identify areas that I need to spend more time researching or thinking about before going to the interview.It's an easy-to-read study guide that helps you go into your interviews more confident and prepared.Full disclosure: I was a colleague of the author at Google.

Decode and Conquer is no doubt a must read for anyone who wants to be a Product Manager. It gives a plethora of different example PM interview questions like "Design a new iPad app for Google Spreadsheet" complete with extremely strong example answers. This book is much stronger than Cracking the PM Interview in that regard.Lin also does a great job teaching something called the CIRCLES framework which helps prospective PMs think more clearly and compose well-structured, logical responses to the sort of questions they will get asked in PM interviews. As someone who conducts PM interviews at a FANG company though, please be warned that if you are using the framework too closely, you will come off as robotic-almost as if you had been told the question beforehand and were reciting a memorized answer. That is not what the interviewer is looking for. Use frameworks as a reference point to make sure you aren't forgetting anything but do NOT use them verbatim. You want to give organized responses to questions that seem to be coming organically as that is what you will need to do everyday on the job.Overall, this book is very strong. The only reason I am giving it four stars is because it seems to downplay open ended strategy questions. Sure, Lin touches on this with things like "You're the CEO of the Yellow Cab taxi service. How do you respond to Uber?" however this book doesn't give you industry insight in the strategy's of the top tech companies or how their products work at a high level for less technical PMs.For that reason, I think Decode and Conquer is one of two must reads for getting PM offers. The other book is called Swipe to Unlock. This book provides considerable insight on the tech and business strategy side to enable you to have the context you need to understand the full implications of what you may be asked. It covers things like why does Google let Yelp & Uber (which are competitors to Google reviews and Waymo) use Google maps or why does Facebook let other apps which are competing for precious user time spent to log in with Facebook credentials instead of making them create their own logins which would cause more friction and probably result in more people using other non-core apps less overall and just defaulting to using Facebook more. It also gives a high level overview of how core tech like search algorithms or machine learning actually work under the hood which may be helpful if you are a PM without a strong computer science education.Between Decode and Conquer and Swipe to Unlock, you should have everything you need to ace PM interview.

Interviews have been raised to the next level in today’s job market. Decode and Conquer appeals to anyone who wants to up their interviewing game, whether they are being interviewed or giving the interview.The book’s main focus is on how to succeed in the product management interview, which tests analytical, design, and technical know-how. But Decode and Conquer’s frameworks and approaches can be used in many analytical or case-based interviews outside of product management.This book’s strengths include: 1) revealing the types of common (and even uncommon) questions asked in these interviews, 2) providing frameworks for answering these questions, and where the book really shines, 3) giving many sample answers (good, bad, and ugly ones) with accompanying critiques.I personally learn more from failures than successes, and this book shows some answers that may on the surface sound good, but upon closer inspection, fall apart. Walking through these answers, Lewis shows how bad answers can be made right and good answers made better. While many other interview books provide frameworks and theories, Decode and Conquer provides practical advice from scores of real world interviews the author has conducted.Lewis also provides useful soft skills for the interview from asking for feedback to pausing to collect your thoughts before diving into an answer. These are often neglected by many interviewees who may jump too quickly to conclusion. I would like to see additional material on soft skills in the next edition of the book.Any prospective product manager should get this book and even seasoned product managers will find valuable insight into their roles and up their game with Decode and Conquer.

While we may find lot of answers to product management/marketing type interview questions from various sources, this book goes an extra mile explaining in depth how an interviewer may interpret different responses. Besides the suggested frameworks, Lewis discusses why a certain response can be weak and what else could be done to strengthen it. I feel this is key to any learning process that we identify areas of improvement to be able to address it. He proposes a slightly different approach in place of STAR method for behavioral questions, which I think can make the response more impactful. Overall the book:-> is a great tool for all who want to master product management interview questions, and-> is a wonderful read for all who are passionate about products and want to articulate their thoughts in a more effective way.