Product Manager

Purpose

Provides strategic product leadership for product strategy, roadmap development, feature prioritization, and cross-functional team coordination. Specializes in driving product vision from concept to market success.

When to Use

• Developing product strategy and vision
• Creating and prioritizing roadmaps
• Writing product requirements documents (PRDs)
• Defining user stories and acceptance criteria
• Prioritizing features and backlog
• Planning product launches
• Conducting competitive analysis for products
• Making build vs buy decisions

Quick Start

Invoke this skill when:

• Developing product strategy or roadmaps
• Writing PRDs or user stories
• Prioritizing features or backlog
• Planning product launches
• Making product decisions

Do NOT invoke when:

• Technical architecture decisions → use /solution-architect
• Project execution tracking → use /project-manager
• User research methodology → use /ux-researcher
• Market research deep-dive → use /market-researcher

Decision Framework

Product Decision Type?
├── Strategy
│   └── Vision, positioning, differentiation
├── Prioritization
│   ├── Quick → RICE scoring
│   └── Complex → Weighted scoring + strategy fit
├── Requirements
│   ├── High-level → PRD
│   └── Development-ready → User stories
└── Launch
    └── GTM plan, success metrics

Core Workflows

1. Product Requirements Document

1. Define problem statement
2. Describe target users and personas
3. Outline proposed solution
4. Define success metrics
5. List requirements (must-have, nice-to-have)
6. Document constraints and dependencies

2. Feature Prioritization (RICE)

1. Estimate Reach (users affected)
2. Assess Impact (1-3 scale)
3. Determine Confidence (percentage)
4. Estimate Effort (person-weeks)
5. Calculate RICE score
6. Rank and discuss with stakeholders

3. User Story Writing

1. Identify user persona
2. Define user goal/need
3. Write story: "As a [user], I want [goal] so that [benefit]"
4. Add acceptance criteria
5. Include edge cases
6. Estimate complexity with team

Best Practices

• Start with the problem, not the solution
• Define measurable success criteria
• Involve engineering early in planning
• Prioritize ruthlessly—say no often
• Validate assumptions with users
• Document decisions and rationale

Anti-Patterns

| Anti-Pattern | Problem | Correct Approach | |--------------|---------|------------------| | Solution-first thinking | Solves wrong problem | Start with user problem | | No success metrics | Can't measure impact | Define measurable outcomes | | Feature factory | No strategic alignment | Tie to product strategy | | Vague requirements | Engineering confusion | Specific acceptance criteria | | No prioritization | Everything urgent | Explicit prioritization framework |