Eve Chen is the author of Growth Product Manager’s Handbook, we got the chance to sit down with her and find out more about her experience of writing with Packt.
Q: What is/are your specialist tech area(s)?
Eve: Fintech, Martech, Retail Tech and Workflow Solutions
Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Eve: I was contacted by one of your business development members via LinkedIn. My motivation for writing this book was to share my decades of experience with other product innovators, marketers, and tech startup founders.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Eve: I did both primary (speaking with Product Managers and Growth Product Managers) and secondary research (online research), it took me roughly a month of extensive research before I agreed to take on this assignment.
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Eve: Time management is the biggest challenge as I have multiple roles. Being super disciplined and planned ahead of time as well as communicating closely with my publisher team about upcoming deadlines and unforeseeable events such as sickness, business travels etc helped me manage editorial deadlines better.
Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Eve: This is not a technology book, it is a business, leadership, and management book. I do see more expectations from general management on Product Managers to take on a more strategic role. I also see Product Leaders take on a more important role in their C-suite tables, especially product led organizations.
Q. Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Eve: There are a number of ways my book differentiate from other books aimed at Product Managers such as: – Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself – Product-Led Onboarding: How to Turn New Users Into Lifelong Customers – Solving Product: Reveal Gaps, Ignite Growth, and Accelerate Any Tech Product with Customer Research. My book “Growth Product Manager’s Handbook” is tailored focused on the tasks and responsibilities and skillsets needed by Growth Product Managers to take their organization to optimal revenue state, some of the unique features of my book include:
1. Practical focus on growth product management frameworks and methodologies: my book provides a comprehensive guide specifically focused on growth product management concepts, models, and best practices. The competitive books have a broader focus on overall product-led growth rather than just the product management aspect.
2. Tactical advice for growth product managers: I outline very actionable chapters on responsibilities, processes, and skills for growth product managers. This includes tactical advice on conducting user research, growth experiments, defining metrics, guiding customer success, etc. The level is more hands-on compared to the competitive books which take a higher-level view.
3. Applicability for both new and experienced product managers: While targeting aspiring growth product managers, my book also covers critical mindset shifts that would benefit even seasoned product leaders looking to optimize their growth strategies. This broadens the appeal.
4. Interviews and case studies focused specifically on product management: The real-world examples and interviews I incorporate in on product management journeys and successes. This helps reinforce key lessons directly tied to the GPM role versus just broad product-led growth cases. In summary, my book takes a uniquely tactical and actionable approach specifically for equipping growth product managers with the frameworks, processes, and skills needed to drive user acquisition and retention. The practical models and best practices, tied to real GPM interviews and use cases, help differentiate it in the market.
Q. What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away from the book with?
Eve: The key takeaways i want my readers to take away from my book is as follows :-
1. A structured understanding of growth product management and how to implement it: Readers will learn foundational frameworks and models that provide a methodical approach to building a growth-focused product management strategy.
2. Tactical skills and processes to drive user acquisition and retention: Through chapters on experiments, metrics, customer success, etc. readers will gain tactical advice and skills on acquiring users and keeping them engaged.
3. Real-world perspectives from successful GPMs: The case studies and interviews with growth product managers will ground key concepts in practical examples, helping hammer home key lessons.
4. A future-proof approach focused on customer lifetime value: The customer-centric focus that is core to the GPM methodologies you describe will help readers drive growth in a way that builds loyalty and retention over simple user acquisition.
Q. What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
Eve: Here are the top 5 tips I would highlight for readers jumping into the practice of Growth Product Management:
1. Maintain an obsession with understanding your users: Continuous research through methods like interviews, data analysis, and social listening is crucial. Build detailed user personas and journey maps. Deep customer empathy fuels growth.
2. Adopt a data-driven mindset anchored in experimentation: Form hypotheses, define success metrics, run controlled tests, analyze results, and rapidly iterate. Leverage analytics to optimize user experiences. Data plus creativity powers innovation.
3. Focus relentlessly on driving customer lifetime value: Acquisition is just the beginning. Effective onboarding, adoption, nurturing, retention and expansion are key. Keep enhancing experiences even for loyal users.
4. Communicate your differentiated value clearly: Articulate how you uniquely solve needs better than alternatives by highlighting concrete improvements. Convey it compellingly across channels through concise, benefit-driven messaging.
5. Champion the voice of the customer across your company: Secure executive commitment to user centricity. Foster cross-functional collaboration around shared objectives to delight users. Infuse customer feedback into processes, rituals and incentives at all levels.
Q. Can you share any blogs, websites, and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Eve: Here are some of those sites that can help readers –
- https://productcoalition.com/
- https://producthq.org/join-the-community/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/ProductManagement/?ref=blog.helpdocs.io
- https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/?ref=blog.helpdocs.io
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Eve: I had a very pleasant experience with Packt team. The project plan and the structure they brought in to manage me as the author was extremely helpful. Communication was great too as I can communicate with my dedicated editorial team via a slack channel. I would definitely recommend Packt to other aspiring authors and look forward to publishing more titles with them myself.
Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?
Eve: Here are some of the groups i am a part of –
- https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2268050/
- https://www.linkedin.com/groups/929
- https://www.linkedin.com/groups/63187/7757/
- https://www.meetup.com/colorado-product/welcome/join/
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Eve: I typically plan 3 months ahead of time. I review the writing schedule with Packt editorial team taking consideration of my prior commitment and use calendar to block out time in my week to focus on writing.
Q. What is the one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Eve: It’s tempting to rush into writing, fingers blazing across the keyboard, imagination unbound. But hold those horses, trailblazers! Conducting thorough research at the start unwinds the path ahead. Like crafting a map of the territory you’ll traverse, comprehensive upfront research illuminates potential plots and subplots, revealing connections between chapters and clues hidden in settings. It summons inspirations from interviews, archives and academic explorations to light your way. You’ll venture deeper into the world you’re building, more confidently and quickly, fueled by those insights. Your writing will transport readers because immersive attention was invested upfront. By taking the time to chart the course before setting your prose free, the trail ahead unfolds with clarity and magic is manifested!
Q. Would you like to share your social handles? If so, please share.
Eve: Sure, here is my Linkedin.
You can find Eve’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here
