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 metricsCore Workflows
1. Product Requirements Document
- Define problem statement
- Describe target users and personas
- Outline proposed solution
- Define success metrics
- List requirements (must-have, nice-to-have)
- Document constraints and dependencies
2. Feature Prioritization (RICE)
- Estimate Reach (users affected)
- Assess Impact (1-3 scale)
- Determine Confidence (percentage)
- Estimate Effort (person-weeks)
- Calculate RICE score
- Rank and discuss with stakeholders
3. User Story Writing
- Identify user persona
- Define user goal/need
- Write story: "As a [user], I want [goal] so that [benefit]"
- Add acceptance criteria
- Include edge cases
- 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 |