Product Manager
Strategic product management expertise for building the right things, in the right order, with the right people.
Philosophy
Great product management isn't about features. It's about outcomes — solving real problems for real users in ways that drive business results.
The best product managers:
- Obsess over problems, not solutions — Understand deeply before building
- Say no more than yes — Focus is a feature
- Bridge all worlds — Connect customers, engineering, design, and business
- Make decisions reversible — Ship fast, learn faster
- Own outcomes, not outputs — Features shipped means nothing without impact
How This Skill Works
When invoked, apply the guidelines in rules/ organized by:
roadmap-* — Roadmap creation, maintenance, and communicationprioritization-* — RICE, ICE, MoSCoW, and prioritization frameworksstakeholder-* — Managing up, down, and across the organizationsprint-* — Sprint planning, backlog grooming, ceremoniesscoping-* — Feature scoping, trade-offs, MVP definitionrelease-* — Release planning, coordination, communicationmetrics-* — Product metrics, OKRs, success measurementdebt-* — Technical debt management and balancing
Core Frameworks
The Product Trio
┌─────────────────┐
│ Product │
│ Manager │
└────────┬────────┘
│
┌─────────────┼─────────────┐
│ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼
┌────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐
│ UX │ │Engineering│ │ Data │
│Designer│ │ Lead │ │ Analyst │
└────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘
Prioritization Framework Comparison
| Framework |
Best For |
Scoring |
Complexity |
| RICE |
Feature prioritization |
Reach × Impact × Confidence / Effort |
Medium |
| ICE |
Quick decisions |
Impact × Confidence × Ease |
Low |
| MoSCoW |
Release scoping |
Must/Should/Could/Won't |
Low |
| Kano |
Customer satisfaction |
Delight/Performance/Basic |
High |
| Value vs Effort |
Quick 2x2 plotting |
Qualitative quadrants |
Low |
The Product Development Loop
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │
│ │ Discover │───▶│ Define │───▶│ Develop │ │
│ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ │
│ ▲ │ │
│ │ ┌──────────┐ │ │
│ └─────────│ Measure │◀─────────┘ │
│ └──────────┘ │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Roadmap Types
| Type |
Audience |
Time Horizon |
Detail Level |
| Vision |
Board, investors |
2-5 years |
High-level themes |
| Strategic |
Leadership |
1 year |
Quarterly goals |
| Release |
Stakeholders |
Quarter |
Features/epics |
| Sprint |
Dev team |
2 weeks |
Stories/tasks |
The PM Decision Matrix
High Confidence
│
┌───────────────┼───────────────┐
│ VALIDATE │ SHIP │
│ (test more) │ (execute) │
Low │ │ │ High
Impact───┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───Impact
│ IGNORE │ INVESTIGATE │
│ (say no) │ (research) │
└───────────────┼───────────────┘
│
Low Confidence
Stakeholder Map
| Stakeholder |
Primary Interest |
Communication Style |
| Executives |
Business outcomes, strategy |
High-level, metrics-focused |
| Engineering |
Technical feasibility, quality |
Detailed, collaborative |
| Design |
User experience, usability |
Visual, user-centric |
| Sales |
Revenue, competitive advantage |
Customer stories, timelines |
| Marketing |
Positioning, launch timing |
Messaging, dates |
| Support |
User satisfaction, volume |
Pain points, frequency |
| Customers |
Problems solved, value |
Empathy, listening |
Anti-Patterns
- Feature factory — Shipping without measuring outcomes
- Roadmap theater — Treating roadmaps as promises, not hypotheses
- Stakeholder-driven development — Building what's loudest, not what matters
- Scope creep acceptance — Never saying no to "just one more thing"
- Velocity worship — Optimizing for speed over impact
- Documentation paralysis — Perfect specs over shipping
- The PM as order taker — Writing tickets instead of solving problems
- Ignoring technical debt — Shipping features on a crumbling foundation
1---2name: product-manager3description: Expert product management guidance for day-to-day PM work. Use when creating roadmaps, prioritizing features, managing stakeholders, planning sprints, grooming backlogs, scoping features, planning releases, defining OKRs, managing technical debt, or coordinating go-to-market. Covers RICE, ICE, MoSCoW frameworks, cross-functional collaboration, and product metrics.4---5
6# Product Manager
7
8Strategic product management expertise for building the right things, in the right order, with the right people.
9
10## Philosophy
11
12Great product management isn't about features. It's about **outcomes** — solving real problems for real users in ways that drive business results.
13
14The best product managers:
151. **Obsess over problems, not solutions** — Understand deeply before building
162. **Say no more than yes** — Focus is a feature
173. **Bridge all worlds** — Connect customers, engineering, design, and business
184. **Make decisions reversible** — Ship fast, learn faster
195. **Own outcomes, not outputs** — Features shipped means nothing without impact
20
21## How This Skill Works
22
23When invoked, apply the guidelines in `rules/` organized by:
24
25- `roadmap-*` — Roadmap creation, maintenance, and communication
26- `prioritization-*` — RICE, ICE, MoSCoW, and prioritization frameworks
27- `stakeholder-*` — Managing up, down, and across the organization
28- `sprint-*` — Sprint planning, backlog grooming, ceremonies
29- `scoping-*` — Feature scoping, trade-offs, MVP definition
30- `release-*` — Release planning, coordination, communication
31- `metrics-*` — Product metrics, OKRs, success measurement
32- `debt-*` — Technical debt management and balancing
33
34## Core Frameworks
35
36### The Product Trio
37
38```
39 ┌─────────────────┐
40 │ Product │
41 │ Manager │
42 └────────┬────────┘
43 │
44 ┌─────────────┼─────────────┐
45 │ │ │
46 ▼ ▼ ▼
47┌────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐
48│ UX │ │Engineering│ │ Data │
49│Designer│ │ Lead │ │ Analyst │
50└────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘
51```
52
53### Prioritization Framework Comparison
54
55| Framework | Best For | Scoring | Complexity |
56|-----------|----------|---------|------------|
57| **RICE** | Feature prioritization | Reach × Impact × Confidence / Effort | Medium |
58| **ICE** | Quick decisions | Impact × Confidence × Ease | Low |
59| **MoSCoW** | Release scoping | Must/Should/Could/Won't | Low |
60| **Kano** | Customer satisfaction | Delight/Performance/Basic | High |
61| **Value vs Effort** | Quick 2x2 plotting | Qualitative quadrants | Low |
62
63### The Product Development Loop
64
65```
66┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
67│ │
68│ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │
69│ │ Discover │───▶│ Define │───▶│ Develop │ │
70│ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ │
71│ ▲ │ │
72│ │ ┌──────────┐ │ │
73│ └─────────│ Measure │◀─────────┘ │
74│ └──────────┘ │
75│ │
76└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
77```
78
79### Roadmap Types
80
81| Type | Audience | Time Horizon | Detail Level |
82|------|----------|--------------|--------------|
83| **Vision** | Board, investors | 2-5 years | High-level themes |
84| **Strategic** | Leadership | 1 year | Quarterly goals |
85| **Release** | Stakeholders | Quarter | Features/epics |
86| **Sprint** | Dev team | 2 weeks | Stories/tasks |
87
88### The PM Decision Matrix
89
90```
91 High Confidence
92 │
93 ┌───────────────┼───────────────┐
94 │ VALIDATE │ SHIP │
95 │ (test more) │ (execute) │
96Low │ │ │ High
97Impact───┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───Impact
98 │ IGNORE │ INVESTIGATE │
99 │ (say no) │ (research) │
100 └───────────────┼───────────────┘
101 │
102 Low Confidence
103```
104
105## Stakeholder Map
106
107| Stakeholder | Primary Interest | Communication Style |
108|-------------|------------------|---------------------|
109| **Executives** | Business outcomes, strategy | High-level, metrics-focused |
110| **Engineering** | Technical feasibility, quality | Detailed, collaborative |
111| **Design** | User experience, usability | Visual, user-centric |
112| **Sales** | Revenue, competitive advantage | Customer stories, timelines |
113| **Marketing** | Positioning, launch timing | Messaging, dates |
114| **Support** | User satisfaction, volume | Pain points, frequency |
115| **Customers** | Problems solved, value | Empathy, listening |
116
117## Anti-Patterns
118
119- **Feature factory** — Shipping without measuring outcomes
120- **Roadmap theater** — Treating roadmaps as promises, not hypotheses
121- **Stakeholder-driven development** — Building what's loudest, not what matters
122- **Scope creep acceptance** — Never saying no to "just one more thing"
123- **Velocity worship** — Optimizing for speed over impact
124- **Documentation paralysis** — Perfect specs over shipping
125- **The PM as order taker** — Writing tickets instead of solving problems
126- **Ignoring technical debt** — Shipping features on a crumbling foundation
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