Frameworks

The CIRCLES method is similar to PURSUIT in that they’re both used to meaningfully work through design questions. Designed by Lewis C. Lin, it’s also commonly used in ...

A ‘Skills Market’ workshop is a simple exercise to develop intra-team efficiencies and trust. This workshop is most valuable when product teams are first assembled ...

The DACI framework is a responsibility assignment matrix and ownership model. It delegates each person on a team a specific role, accelerating decision-making velocity...

Jon Lax, Director of Product Design at Facebook, believes great products don’t happen by accident — they require an architecture to respond to dynamic ...

The GROW acronym is a ubiquitous growth method that allows product managers to evaluate situations critically, develop goals, and achieve them effectively. (G)oal - what...

PURSUIT was invented by Maryanna Quigless, Director of Product Management at Meta. At its best, PURSUIT gets everyone on the same page about thinking through ...

Writing a PRD is a crucial part of the planning process for any product team. Investing time into writing clear PRDs help your team, executives, and stakeholders align on the "wh...

The GIST acronym is a popular approach to planning used to maintain alignment with organizational objectives. There are four parts in GIST that a product manager must...

Julie Zhuo, VP of Product Design at Facebook, approaches product develop-ment with a 3-question approach. 1. What people problem are we solving? ...

In the SCAMPER method, ideas are modified through seven frames. Take any process you're trying to improve, and apply one of the following: Substitute, Combine, Adapt ...

Crazy 8's are widely used in design sprints. Product managers can set up Crazy 8's to generate ideas in a short time frame. The method is simple: sketch eight unique ide...

The worst possible idea is a method to strain out bad ideas to uncover more innovative ones. This is a particularly helpful exercise for product managers working on projects ...

Gamestorming itself is a broad set of practices for conducting business analysis or ideation (brainstorming) through games (hence the name). In general, there are ...

This is a timed brainstorm exercise typically used in design sprints that product managers can leverage during the ideation phase. This exercise consists of three phases. In the fi...

The ZIZO method is used in the product ideation stage. In ZIZO, product teams design in three layers: Flow, Interface, and Action. 1. Begin with your user journey a...

A user journey map is a diagrammatic flow that visualizes how a user enters your site, engages with it, exits, as well as long-term loyalty and advocacy. It details the user's ...

Empathy maps, created by Dave Gray at XPLANE, are among the most commonly used design methodologies. They allow product teams to, you guessed it, empath...

The JTBD framework is one of the most common approaches to identifying user needs in product management. The framework frames products as jobs that ...

A proto-persona is the technical term for a persona created solely on the assumptions of the product team. These personas are lightweight, can be rapidly written up, and ...

This is a long-standing (debatably archaic) staple among business analysis frameworks that every PM should master. Although categorized under User Analysis on this ...

A service map or service blueprint is an essential tool for product managers working in large partner ecosystems. There are five lanes in a service map: 1. Physical Evidences...

A value-effort matrix is a 2x2 matrix that charts Value on the Y-axis, and Effort on the X-axis. Initiatives are mapped onto the chart according to whether they require high or ...

Cost of Delay (CoD) is a method of prioritization based on amount of revenue lost if an initiative is delayed. This method directly ties quality of prioritization to a company's...

RICE scoring is a prioritization framework that helps product managers estimate the value of a task, action, or project .There are four factors to consider: 1. Reach — This ...

MoSCoW prioritization is a hierarchy framework used to rank items in order of importance. It means: Must-haves, Should-haves, Could-haves, and Will-not-haves. ...

The Ansoff matrix helps PMs discover and compare the risks associated with growth strategies. X-axis: Products (Existing, New). Y-axis: Markets (Existing, New). The PM id...

The Kano Model prioritizes product roadmaps on the basis of how likely they will satisfy customers. This is a user-centric methodology used by many product tea...

The Growth-Share matrix was created by BCG to chart a company’s products against each other.The matrix plots market share on the x-axis and rate of market growth on ...

Product managers who wish to examine user behavior in specific environments can consider remote usability testing. During the test, the examiner and test subject are ...

Google uses the HEART framework to measure UX quality on a large scale. It consists of a set of user-centric metrics (not all of which is always applicable) that are as ...

Guerrilla Testing is a popular method among design teams to gain user feedback and unveil further issues. The method itself is simple: go to a physical location with pros...

In some scenarios, product managers will find value in interviewing the user as they undergo a usability test. These are contextual inquiries. Contextual inquiries ...

The 5 Why’s was developed at Toyota as a root-cause analysis method. The technique is commonly used by design teams. When dealing with a problem, ask “why?” five ...

Darius Contractor, Growth @ Airtable, developed the Psych Framework to evaluate UX touch-points and increase funnel conversion. The framework posits that: 1. ...

The Game Thinking method is used to design deeply engaging products. The core of the concept lies in identifying super-fans (highly passionate early adopters). These ...

In any agile process, there is a discovery team that identifies challenges, ideates solutions, and validates the problem space. Then there's a delivery team, turning thes...

The 4D Framework expands on Dual-Track Agile Development by layering on four phases crucial to product management success. 1. Discovery — 4D Discovery focu...

Joe Van Os, PM @ Clariti, created the Product Focus Funnel to help startups/ product teams overcome lack of focus and develop a bias for user-centric action. In th...

For each phase of a project’s lifecycle, you ask a question:Phase 0 — What is the problem we’re solving? Why is it worth solving? (Validation) Anyone can propose...

The Product Kata by Melissa Perri of HBS expands on the Kanban Kata (see here) as a method to build better software products. The kata goes as follows: 1. Understand th...

The traditional MVP is a scaled-back product with minimal features, but enough to attract early-adopter paying customers. But, agile PMs realized a paying MVP is still too far o...

The double diamond method is one of the most common design methodologies. It uses a four-phase process to understand user problems and develop solutions: ...