Product Manager: Typical Structure

Product Manager: Typical Structure

The directory layout that works for product manager projects.

Core Structure

[project-name]/
├── CLAUDE.md                    # PM personality, methodology, context hierarchy
├── README.md                    # Workflow guide for the human
│
├── context/                     # Project context (from intake, living)
│   ├── requirements.md          # Purpose, users, success criteria, PM voice
│   ├── decisions.md             # Strategic decisions with rationale
│   ├── constraints.md           # Technical, timeline, organizational limits
│   ├── questions.md             # Open questions backlog (formalized)
│   └── domain.md                # Deep product domain context (optional)
│
├── product/                     # Product knowledge (built over time)
│   ├── vision.md                # Product vision and strategy
│   ├── user-segments.md         # User segments with validation state
│   ├── feature-concepts.md      # Feature ideas (explored vs. raw)
│   └── competitive-landscape.md # Competitive analysis
│
├── tracking/                    # Session continuity (living documents)
│   ├── hypothesis.md            # The strategy anchor (central artifact)
│   ├── insights-log.md          # Accumulated product insights
│   ├── session-log.md           # What happened each session
│   ├── next-actions.md          # Prioritized queue for next session
│   └── patterns-discovered.md   # Command evolution learnings
│
├── docs/
│   ├── specs/                   # PRDs and feature specs (shaped artifacts)
│   ├── mockups/                 # UI mockups when ready
│   ├── research/                # Competitive analysis, user research
│   └── plans/                   # Implementation specs, tickets.yaml, build-progress.md
│
└── .claude/
    └── commands/
        ├── explore.md           # Open-ended PM ideation (reverse prompting)
        ├── process.md           # Ingest transcripts/documents
        ├── research.md          # Analyze comparable products
        ├── synthesize.md        # Find patterns across context
        ├── hypothesis.md        # Manage the strategy anchor
        ├── spec.md              # Write feature specs/PRDs
        ├── plan.md              # Break specs into tickets
        ├── status.md            # Quick session-start orientation
        ├── gaps.md              # Assess what's captured vs. needed
        └── checkpoint.md        # End-of-session capture

Required Files

These files must exist for the core commands to work:

Context Files (From Intake)

Context files are created during intake and serve as the project's foundation. They should be treated as living documents that get updated as understanding deepens.

Product Files (Built Over Time)

Product files accumulate product thinking across sessions. They start as templates and fill in through /explore, /process, and /research.

vision.md — Product vision and strategy

• What the product is and why it exists
• The hypothesis (references tracking/hypothesis.md)
• Go-to-market phases
• What's in scope, what's explicitly not

user-segments.md — User segment definitions

• Each segment with description, key pain, and Phase 1 fit assessment
• Validation state (assumed → talked to → validated)
• Prioritization rationale

feature-concepts.md — Feature ideas at various stages

• Raw ideas (brainstormed, not yet explored)
• Explored ideas (discussed in sessions, with insights)
• Spec-ready ideas (ready for /spec)

competitive-landscape.md — Competitive understanding

• Direct competitors with positioning
• Adjacent products
• What to borrow, what to avoid
• Where our hypothesis creates differentiation

Tracking Files (Living Documents)

Tracking files maintain continuity across sessions. They should always reflect current state.

hypothesis.md — The strategy anchor

• Current hypothesis statement
• Confidence level (speculative → proposed → tested → validated)
• Test plan with stacked metrics
• Evidence for/against
• History of revisions

insights-log.md — Accumulated product insights

• Dated entries from /process, /synthesize, /explore
• Tagged by source (conversation, research, exploration)
• Connected to hypothesis and feature concepts

session-log.md — Session history

• Dated entries from /checkpoint
• What was discussed, decided, and what's next
• Which commands were used

next-actions.md — Prioritized queue

• What to do in the next session
• Ranked by impact on hypothesis validation
• Updated by /checkpoint

patterns-discovered.md — Command evolution

• What's working and what's not
• Ideas for new commands or command modifications
• "Start wrong, iterate to right" learnings

Cross-Project References (If Applicable)

When a sibling dev project exists:

companions/[client]/
├── [product]-pm/           # This PM companion
│   └── docs/specs/         # PM writes specs here
│       └── feature-a.md    # Dev companion reads these
│
└── [product]-dev/           # Sibling dev companion
    └── docs/specs/          # May reference PM specs

CLAUDE.md should document:

• Path to sibling project: ../[product]-dev/
• What the PM project produces that the dev project consumes
• Linear as the bridge for tickets and status
• Document ownership: each project owns its files, references the other's

Git Configuration

The project should have its own git repository. Suggested .gitignore:

.DS_Store
*.swp
*.swo
.claude/settings.local.json

CLAUDE.md Sections

The CLAUDE.md for a product manager project typically includes:

1. Project identity — What this is, what product it manages
2. PM personality — Named behaviors (Skeptic, Connector, Narrower, Tester, Shaper)
3. Methodology — Three-phase approach (Seeding, Cultivation, Shaping) applied to PM
4. Strategy anchor — How the hypothesis works as the decision lens
5. Commands — Overview of all commands and when to use each
6. Context hierarchy — Which files to read first and in what order
7. Cross-project references — Sibling dev project paths and handoff model
8. Key principles — "Only write what we know", testability, focus
9. Session checklist — What to do at start/end of session