Product Management (Sprint)

Start creating an idea wall.

Organize all your ideas by following the EMUC color code.

EMUC is used by Product Managers and is often a good way to keep backlogs stocked with valuable features.

👉 EMUC stands for employees, metrics, users, and customers.

Tip: Users are not always your customers. For example, if you have a B2B your users will be your customer's employees, they don't use your solution, but they are the ones paying for your product or solution.

👍 Include at one to three things that went well.

👎 Include one to three things that you think you and your team could improve.

Provide at least one idea 👆 to improve our current process, workflow, management, service, team, culture, etc.

Add your direct competitor in the red column and substitute competitors inside the black and grey columns.

Follow our 5 dimensions to understand and evaluate your competitors. Product core Size of the user base Design Brand Speed How to monitor your competitors? Go to websites like crunchbase.com and keep track of their funding and the amount of money they have to hire people, invest in marketing, etc. Acquisition and partnership:** Companies they are buying or partnering with. New features:** Go to mention.com , follow your competitors on Angelist, _LinkedIn_, and social media and use google alerts to get notified when new search results are available.

Add any final thoughts on what this means for your competitive advantage and how you might move forward based on areas of low or high ratings.

Add a list of assumptions. Think about the things you don't have all the information and you are currently assuming. Tip: Share this step with your team. Maybe someone in your team can provide more information.

Create a question to reframe the challenge or barrier you are going to solve. Start by saying, " how might we ...." and finalize the question. For example: How might we improve our online customer service for millennial users? How might we get schools and universities to use our product?

Generate a hypothesis by answering this question: "How might we ..."

The HEART metric framework helps you evaluate any aspect of your user experience following these five user-centered metrics: Happiness Engagement Adoption Retention Task-success Goals Start by defining your goal. Discuss with your team your goals and select 2 or 3 goals for each aspect of the HEART. Signals Define the signal "What do you need to measure?" and provide information about how you would gather that information. Metrics For every goal, there is a related user action. Keep these actions and the signals in mind when you are defining your metrics. A good metrics could be: Amount of products in the cart per user, signup rates, task completion, etc

Add your current metrics and add additional columns by the end of the sprint to evaluate progress.👍👎

The AARRR framework, also known as the Pirate Metrics, is a model used to analyze and optimize the various stages of a customer's journey in a business or product context. Each letter in "AARRR" corresponds to a different stage of the customer lifecycle:

👉Acquisition: This is the first stage where you focus on acquiring new users or customers. It involves all the strategies and channels you use to attract people to your product or website. This can include marketing efforts, advertising, content creation, social media, and more.

👉Activation: Once users have been acquired, the next step is to get them to take a specific action that indicates they have started using your product or service. Activation might involve signing up for an account, completing a tutorial, or making their first purchase. The goal is to turn new users into active users.

👉Retention: After users are activated, it's crucial to keep them engaged and coming back. Retention metrics measure how often users return and continue to use your product. A high retention rate is a sign that your product is valuable and meeting user needs.

👉Referral: Satisfied and engaged users can become advocates for your product by referring others. Referral programs and word-of-mouth marketing can help encourage users to bring in new customers.

👉Revenue: Ultimately, the goal of any business is to generate revenue. This stage involves converting engaged users into paying customers and optimizing your revenue streams.

The AARRR framework is often used to identify strengths and weaknesses in each stage of the customer lifecycle. By analyzing data and metrics related to each stage, businesses can make informed decisions to improve their overall performance and growth. It's essential to continually measure and iterate on each stage to enhance the user experience and drive business success.

The typical metrics for each phase of the AARRR framework (Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, and Revenue) are as follows:

Acquisition:

Activation:

Retention:

Referral:

Revenue:

These metrics provide insights into the health and performance of each stage in the customer lifecycle. Businesses use these metrics to identify areas for improvement, optimize their strategies, and drive growth.

✍Explore how you can measure success.

Answering the "what, why, when, where, who, and how" questions in a proposal ensures clarity, alignment, and thoroughness, giving stakeholders confidence in the plan.

Here's why each question is essential and the most powerful questions to ask at each stage:

👉What?

Defines the core idea, scope, and deliverables of the project or strategy.

Powerful Questions:

🧐Why?

Establishes the rationale, importance, and benefits of the proposal.

Powerful Questions:

⏲When?

Outlines the timeline, milestones, and deadlines.

Powerful Questions:

🌎Where?

Defines the physical or virtual location and context for implementation.

Powerful Questions:

👩‍🤷‍♀‍🥷🦸‍♂‍Who?

Identifies stakeholders, decision-makers, and team members involved.

Powerful Questions:

👀🦵How?

Describes the process, methodology, and strategies for implementation.

Powerful Questions:

When crafting your proposal, asking these powerful questions ensures a robust foundation and demonstrates thorough preparation and foresight.

If you understand the problem, start by evaluating what other solutions exist. Add pictures, notes, an inspiration board, and once that is complete, evaluate what you think your solution must be. Then, break the expected patterns by thinking about these 3 vectors:

Analogies 🔁 – borrow brilliance from other worlds

"Have you ever noticed how every tough problem you face… has already been solved somewhere else?"

Not in your industry. Maybe not even in your lifetime. But somewhere, someone cracked a similar-shaped puzzle.

Tradeoffs ⚖️ – refuse the false choices

"How many times have you heard this in business: we can either do A or B, but not both?"

Cheap or premium. Fast or high quality. Mass market or niche.

These are the cages we put ourselves in. And most strategy meetings get stuck there.

But the breakthroughs? They come when you attack the tradeoff instead of accepting it.

Anomalies 👀 – hunt the weird edges

"When you look at your customers, what do you pay attention to? The average? The majority? The mainstream behavior?"

Instead, consider what people outside the mainstream—the innovators, the early adopters, the exceptions—are exploring.

Is that where the future is going?