Product initiative: NAME

Before adding tasks, mark non-negotiable milestones on the timeline:

Map all phases and key activities and Keep a Buffer for Scoping Iteration (Always allocate 15–20% buffer time within the scoping phase for feedback loops, unexpected technical risks, or scope trimming before committing to a delivery schedule.)

Break the leadership team into groups of two or three.

Ask each group to come up with the 3 to 8 key functions processes that will need to be involved during this project or new sprint.

Start by having each member of the executive team fill in the first blank column by adding the initials of the person they think is accountable for each function or business unite.

Tip:

You want to ensure you promote and hire leaders who:

Ensure that everyone knows who is owns each function.

Once the team has agreed on the people accountable for each function, consider following these four questions:

Discuss the four questions and decide where there are glaring gaps in the leadership team.

Tip: The rule of accountability means one person must ultimately take ownership, however the person to whom these people report has the overall accountability.

What updates need to be communicated, and when? Who should be informed, and who is responsible for sharing the information? How is change managed? How is information shared? How are disagreements handled? What type of information does each stakeholder group need? What communication channels will be used to ensure effective knowledge sharing and control within the group?

What are the expectations? For example, you can include something like this:

🙏We are a team. The objective is to work as a team to effectively achieve the goal, understanding that we are all on the same team. If something is not feasible or possible, we must work together to find an alternative.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑Cooperation over collaboration: Those who collaborate complete their individual tasks to achieve a common objective, while those who cooperate support and encourage each other, ensuring that we win together. Keep in mind that some may need help during the process, and you may need to step in to assist with things that were unexpected or unplanned.

🚅Progress over perfection: Perfection is the worst enemy of progress, so always choose progress over perfection.

Quick summary of actions and accountabilities.

✔Notes: The only notes you need to keep and update from a meeting of an hour or longer.

Launching a new product feature or creating a new product requires that a product manager not only prepares user stories and writes a good epic for developers, but also defines a good action plan and strategy for that initiative. This includes having a good communication plan, a way to train users to use the new feature or product, and a launching strategy. Product managers can use this tool as a checklist to think about each phase of the product, from discovery to validation.

Product phases:

Answer the following questions and define an action plan to answer them: What do you know about the market? What are your competitors doing? 😭😫What do you know about your users and their pain points? 👀What job are they trying to do (Job-to-be-done)? How would they describe their pain? How often do they experience it? How likely are they to change the way they currently respond to that pain? Why should they choose your product?🙂

Define the problem you are trying to solve. What should success look like? What is causing the problem? Can you solve the problem or are you creating a painkiller or a distraction? What would be nice-to-have? What are your current assumptions, and how risky are those assumptions?

By the end of this initiative or product launch, what do you want to learn? How are you going to measure success? How should designers measure success?

Explore what should be simplified and focus on solving the problem first. How would the design look? Would it be good enough to validate this experiment? Provide a success criteria.

🔥🔥What do developers need to implement this design? What is non-negotiable? What is the timeline?

Define how this product or feature should be launched. Do you need to send an email to communicate these changes to current users? Should you write a post or a press release? How will you generate excitement about this product or feature? Create a list of key activities to support your launch.

How will you ensure users don't have to contact your support team to use the new product or feature? Do you need to update your Q&A page? Do you need to create how-to videos? How can you ensure people can find the information they need to achieve their goals?

How will you attract new and current users to use this new product or feature? How will you increase your revenue? Think about a promotion or a lead generation campaign.

Create a 1–2 page executive summary outlining the key highlights for each phase and subsection visible in the 8 Product Phases diagram (The Market, The Problem & solution or painkiller, Success Criteria & Nice-to-Have, Risks, Operational readiness across all touchpoints prior to and during release, marketing strategy, ...)

Finally, go back to the validation phase and validate your learning. What have you learned? Have you validated some of your hypotheses?

What's next? Would you change something to improve the results?

👉👉Add your conclusions inside the conclusion section.

Indicate who the main competitors are and list the key characteristics, services, and features you are comparing. Ensure your company name is included in the first column.

Based on the initial competitors mentioned and the type of initiative (feature, solution, product, service, or a mix) explored during this phase, create a quick competitive analysis of how competitors address a similar solution or approach to the problem. Define the most critical characteristics or features, and rate them from 0 to 5:

Below each competitor's evaluation, indicate their strategic positioning based on their current focus, and identify where a market opportunity exists for our company. Create a single 1-page document to kick off this team discussion."

I will now generate the 1-page Competitive Matrix & Strategic Positioning Brief designed for your team kickoff discussion.

You will use a 1 to 5 scale to evaluate each feature. Where:

👎1 = Bad implementation and design 👍5 = Great usability, design and implementation

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.

Brief summary of the proposal or hypothesis.

⚡What problem are we solving? What is the problem that needs to be solved? What do we know about the problem/challenge? What is the cause of the problem?

👨‍🌾🧑‍🔬👩‍💼 How do we know it's a problem? What is the user impact?

Additional questions:

Add a user story following this framework: "As a [persona], I want to [X], so that [I/We ....]"

How would this new design, strategy or product impact your business?

For example:

⭐✨How can we measure success?

What do we assume to be true that materially impacts this?

Risks: Keep in mind the following concepts - value, usability, feasibility, and viability.

What does it entail?

Incorporate all notes and insights from previous sessions to draft a 1–2 page initiative brief, including a table mapping user stories to product requirements, for the team to review and refine.

AI Only (first draft)

Product-development teams can use story mapping to drive product discussion and align everyone's efforts at any stage of the process. Story maps can be used for new products after discovery work, or for existing products after usability testing.

The user story map helps teams illustrates how the solutions can solve the problems research activities have uncovered.

Team norms: 👩‍🚀👩‍⚕‍🦸‍♂‍

Describe the high-level tasks that users aim to accomplish using the digital product, such as 'checking the account balance' or 'depositing a check'. (Usage process)

These will potentially be transform into "initiatives or epics" or just represent certain user activities.

Next, describe the activity or problem if needed (Details)

Steps appear under activities and are arranged sequentially. To complete the activity above, users will go through specific subtasks in the product. In the activity, Deposit a check, the steps are: Enter mobile deposit details, Sign check, Photograph check, Submit deposit, and Confirm deposit. (user tasks)

If you are a product manager, often steps can represent some of the user stories and can help you define some of the requirements.

Thinks about all the steps and use cases.

You can add additional details by adding a sticky note (use a different color) to describe the lowest-granularity interactions the team anticipates users will experience. These are often similar to product requirements like 'Enter email' ' Enter password'

Identifying the minimum viable product (or next release) and prioritizing it based on well-informed judgment by analyzing the User story map.

Team members can use story maps to visualize what their minimum-viable-product release could or should include, along with how and when to release end-to-end product increments with specific goals and outcomes.

Think about the requirements that are:

Discuss this with your team and make the final decision based on what you want to validate first. Also consider things like costs, time, etc.

Move to the next release those that are nice to have but can't be implemented for this release.

Convert the completed whiteboard user story map into a 1- to 2-page PDF document for the initiative.

Start by clarifying the fundamental aspects of this product or feature. What core problem does it solve for users or the market? What is its primary objective or desired impact? This foundation ensures marketing messaging is precisely targeted.

Consider these reflective questions:

Share your comprehensive understanding of the product's core purpose and value proposition.

Indicate the 3-5 most compelling features that set this product apart from alternatives. Focus on what makes it truly unique and valuable to the target audience. Your insights here will become core pillars of our marketing messages.

Think about:

List each key feature or differentiator on a separate sticky note. Vote 👍 on the most impactful ones to help us prioritize.

Provide a clear and detailed profile of the ideal target user for this product or feature. Understanding their demographics, psychographics, pain points, and desired outcomes is crucial for crafting relevant marketing campaigns.

Consider:

Detail the primary target user profile, including key insights into their needs and motivations.

From a design perspective, what are the essential visual and brand guidelines for this product? Marketing needs access to approved assets, brand voice definitions, and any specific messaging "dos and don'ts" to maintain consistency.

Include:

Upload relevant design assets or links, and summarize key brand messages and guidelines.

Action: Upload relevant design assets or provide links and summarize critical brand messaging.

Provide a realistic overview of the product's readiness for launch and any critical milestones. This helps marketing plan their campaigns to align perfectly with product availability and development phases.

Include:

Outline critical launch dates, key milestones, and any known dependencies or potential impacts.

Beyond general brand guidelines, are there any specific nuances, technical terms, or unique selling points from your perspective that marketing absolutely needs to get right? This step ensures we avoid misinterpretations and highlight the product's true essence.

Consider:

Share any critical messaging considerations, unique insights, or specific communication "dos and don'ts" for marketing.

Align on how product and design will measure the success of this launch or feature. Understanding your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) helps marketing tailor campaigns to drive outcomes that matter most to the product's long-term health and adoption.

Think about:

You've provided valuable insights! Now it's time to consolidate this information to kickstart the go-to-market strategy. The data collected here will be the foundation for the marketing team to know what's new, how to market the solution and to who and what other details are important.

"Create a document that includes: Product Overview, Target Audience, Key Value Proposition & Differentiators, Design & Brand Guidelines, Launch Timeline & Milestones, Core Messaging Themes, and Key Success Metrics. Ensure the tone is strategic and action-oriented for the marketing team"

Review the document created by AI to verify its accuracy. If any errors are found, update the document and share the new version with the marketing team (as referenced in the previous step). Mark this step as done once the review is complete, whether the document was updated or left as is.

Skip if there are no additional questions. Use this space to ask questions or request extra details, ensuring all key points shaping the marketing strategy are preserved across channels. To get the attention of the right team member, tag them using @Name.

Review the file to evaluate whether any additional documents or information are needed. Add all relevant files and documents to this location so the project folder is complete and accessible to the entire team.

Mark this step as complete, to indicate that all initial information required to build the marketing strategy has been received, and we are officially moving to the next phase. If additional details or clarifications are needed while developing the strategy, we will address them during future sessions.

The objective of this session is to gather feedback from you to set the initiative right from the start, taking into account potential risks, necessary clarifications, feasibility, and cost efficiency.

First, I will give you an overview of the initiative (epic).

👉How do you feel about this? Are we moving in the right direction?

Is there anything we have overconsidered or missed that could make this solution easier to build so we can reduce engineering time? Is there anything that seems overly complicated?

When looking at this, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? What do you wonder about? What have you heard others are doing that could inspire our team?

👉Are there any other limitations, or gaps you would like to share with us? 🤔 What potential risks or obstacles do you foresee, and how do you think we should address them? Are there any concerns or reservations you have about this idea that we should address?

👉Technical Feasibility & Architecture: Are there existing components, design patterns, or APIs we can leverage to build this faster without creating technical debt?

🤔 Edge Cases & System Limits: What technical risks, edge cases, or system bottlenecks do you foresee that could slow down implementation or impact performance at scale?

By reviewing the risks that were mentioned earlier, what will be the overall risk score of this proposal? Any score below 👍2 will be considered low risk, 3 will be considered medium, and 😡4 will be considered high. If the risk is 🔥critical, it means we should not move forward until we eliminate or mitigate those risks.

Are there any other aspects we are missing? What other questions should we be asking ourselves or evaluating? What alternative solutions should we explore for inspiration? What strategies or support do you think could help address these concerns/risks? What other resources do we need?

Add your questions below👇

I will go through all of your comments and answers once the session is closed and will address all of your questions and concerns a few days later. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, you can contact me through Slack.

📅 Before concluding this session, please remember that the session will remain open until the due date, allowing you to modify your answers or vote for other participants' answers. 🙏❤️ I would also like to take a moment to express my gratitude for your valuable time and for sharing your knowledge with us.

Please review the feedback from the engineering team, including their notes on risks, observations, feasibility, potential improvements to reduce engineering development time or other costs, and any additional details mentioned.

Create a brief, to-the-point 1 to 2 page summary organized into the following sections:

The objective of this discussion is to gather feedback and walk you through the solution we have developed. Before moving forward with this approach, we would love to get your input: What are we missing? What should be added? What have you been hearing from clients? And what key use cases have we overlooked?

Let me walk you through the idea. 👇

For additional information about deadlines, and details you can go here: [ add link ]

👉What are your initial thoughts about this? 💡 Do you have any ideas or major changes you would suggest for this solution?

Let me walk you through some of the challenges and limitations I've kept in mind.

- [ADD LIMITATION]

💬 Is there anything about how they (clients/users/target market) explain the problem that has been mentioned to you?

⚡ Are there specific clients or users who would require a different approach or need to be excluded from this?

Add feedback, questions and comments here.

👉 Please review the following: [Edit and provide a short description of what you are looking to make a final decision on or get approved].

Please participate within the given ⚡ timeframe.

Here are the key areas that require your detailed review:

[Edit and provide a short description]

Here are all the required documents: [Add the name of the document and a link to the document or file].

Once they have been reviewed, please indicate whether you approve, decline, or wish to request changes. If you want to request changes, add a note indicating which changes are required.👇

I will go through all of your comments and answers once the session is closed and will address all of your questions and concerns a few days later. If you have a question that requires an immediate answer, you can contact me through Slack.

What should we continue doing because it is currently working well? What practices are contributing to progress, keeping the team motivated, and moving in the right direction? 👇Add one suggestion per sticky note.

💫 Identify areas for improvement: What didn’t work, and what changes or improvements are needed? Are there any practices that should be discontinued? What should we improve, stop doing, or rethink? What wasn’t clear enough? What was a blocker or made things more complicated than needed to be? 👇Add one suggestion per sticky note.

Team retrospectives should focus not only on discussing what worked well and what didn’t, but also on prioritizing at least one action to be tested. This action could involve implementing, changing, or removing something to help the team work better in the future. Now, review the notes above, ask questions to the team, and decide on one or two actions to implement, remove, or change over the next 30 to 60 days to see if improvements are made. Document this as a task, specifying what needs to be done and who is responsible for each part.

👀 Prioritize one or two actions you’re willing to take to improve the way things are done. Think of this as a commitment to experiment, not a binding obligation. The goal is to test whether these changes lead to meaningful improvements. Focus on actions you believe will have the greatest impact or address urgent needs—because progress begins with a single step forward. By prioritizing thoughtfully, you set the stage for positive momentum and real results.

Add final decisions and notes in the conclusion section. Click here if you need guidance on scheduling future recurring sessions.

👉Define the objective of the meeting and the key points you would like to mention or discuss related to that.