Library
Every learning block, in one place
Your plan is built from these small, reusable activities. Browse them all, or filter by phase, PM type, kind of block and way of working.
- DiscoverCore
Use data to find where users struggle
Data shows you what users do and where they give up. Use it alongside research: data tells you where the problem is, and talking to users tells you why.
- Data and measurement
- Discovery and research
2-5 daysOpen - DiscoverCore
Decide whether to carry on: the discovery decision
Discovery ends with a decision: carry on, change direction or stop. Making this call openly, with evidence, saves money and builds trust, even when the answer is no.
- Discovery and research
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
1-2 daysOpen - DiscoverCore
Frame the opportunity and what you need to learn
Before any research, agree why this work matters, what outcome you are aiming for and what you do not yet know. A clear frame stops discovery from drifting and tells you when it is finished.
- Discovery and research
1-2 daysOpen - DiscoverCore
Analyse the market and competitors
Find out how others solve the same problem, including tools, workarounds and doing nothing. This shows you what users expect, where the gaps are and how you could do better.
- Discovery and research
- Commercial and business sense
2-4 daysOpen - DiscoverCore
Size the opportunity
Estimate how many people have the problem and what solving it is worth. A rough, honest number helps you compare this opportunity with others and decide how much to invest.
- Commercial and business sense
- Data and measurement
1-3 daysOpen - DiscoverCoreGo further
Map opportunities with an opportunity solution tree
An opportunity solution tree links one outcome to the user needs that could drive it, the ideas that could meet each need and the tests that check each idea. It keeps the team focused on outcomes rather than a list of features.
- Discovery and research
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
4-8 hoursOpen - DiscoverCore
Plan and run discovery research with users
Before you commit to building anything, find out who your users are, what they are trying to do and what gets in their way. Discovery research gives you the evidence every later decision rests on.
- Discovery and research
10-20 daysOpen - DiscoverAdd-on
Involve customers and sales in discovery
Business products have buyers, users and sales teams with different views. Involve them in discovery without letting the loudest customer set the roadmap.
- Discovery and research
- Commercial and business sense
5-10 daysOpen - DiscoverAdd-on
Find the decisions your data product supports
Data products succeed when they help someone make a better decision. Start from the decisions, not the data.
- Data and measurement
- Discovery and research
3-5 daysOpen - DiscoverAdd-on
Map and analyse the growth funnel
Map how people discover, try, adopt, pay for and recommend your product, and find where most are lost.
- Data and measurement
2-4 daysOpen - DiscoverAdd-on
Treat internal users as customers
Staff who use internal tools deserve the same care as customers. Research their work and design for it.
- Discovery and research
3-10 daysOpen - DiscoverAdd-on
Research developers as users
When your users are developers, research how they actually work: their tools, their workflows and what slows them down.
- Discovery and research
- Technical and AI fluency
5-10 daysOpen - DiscoverAdd-on
Map the current process and its pain points
Before changing how an organisation works, understand how it works today, including the workarounds people rely on.
- Discovery and research
3-10 daysOpen - DefineCore
Write a problem statement and hypothesis
A clear problem statement keeps the team solving the right thing. A hypothesis turns your idea into something you can prove or disprove, so you know later whether it worked.
- Discovery and research
- Communication and influence
1-2 daysOpen - DefineCore
Write a product brief (PRD)
A product brief, often called a PRD, brings the problem, users, goals, scope and open questions into one short document. It becomes the place the whole team goes to understand why you are building this and what is in and out.
- Communication and influence
- Delivery and execution
2-4 daysOpen - DefineCore
Test your riskiest assumptions
Every idea rests on assumptions. Find the ones that would sink the idea if they were wrong and that you have least evidence for, then test those first with the cheapest test that will give you an answer.
- Discovery and research
3-10 daysOpen - DefineCore
Align stakeholders on the problem and the plan
Work goes faster when the people who can help or block it agree on the problem, the goal and who decides what. Get that agreement early, in writing, and keep it fresh.
- Communication and influence
2-4 daysOpen - DefineCore
Choose success metrics and guardrails
Decide how you will know the work succeeded, and what must not get worse along the way. Clear metrics make every later decision easier.
- Data and measurement
1-2 daysOpen - DefineCoreGo further
Write a press release and FAQ (working backwards)
Before building, write a one-page press release announcing the finished product, plus a list of tough questions and answers. If you cannot write a convincing release, the idea is not ready yet.
- Communication and influence
- Strategy and vision
1-3 daysOpen - DefineAdd-on
Check your data is ready for AI
AI is only as good as the data behind it. Check you have the right data, of good enough quality, and that you are allowed to use it.
- Data and measurement
- Technical and AI fluency
2-5 daysOpen - DefineAdd-on
Decide whether AI is the right solution
AI is powerful but costly, unpredictable and sometimes unnecessary. Check that AI is the best way to solve the user's problem before committing to it.
- Technical and AI fluency
- Discovery and research
1-3 daysOpen - DefineAdd-on
Build for both buyers and users
In business software the person who buys is often not the person who uses it. Meet both needs.
- Discovery and research
- Commercial and business sense
1-3 daysOpen - DefineAdd-on
Set data quality and trust measures
If people do not trust the data, they will not use it. Agree what good quality means and how you will show it.
- Data and measurement
2-4 daysOpen - DefineAdd-on
Set service levels and quality targets (SLOs and non-functional requirements)
How fast, reliable and secure a technical product must be is part of the requirement. Agree measurable targets before building, not after testing.
- Technical and AI fluency
- Delivery and execution
2-4 daysOpen - DefineAdd-on
Set a bill-of-materials cost target and protect it
In hardware, the parts list sets most of the cost of every unit you sell. Agree a target cost per unit early and check every design change against it.
- Commercial and business sense
- Technical and AI fluency
2-5 daysOpen - DesignCore
Explore several solutions before choosing one
The first idea is rarely the best. Generate several different ways to solve the problem, compare them, and only then pick one to develop.
- Design and user experience
1-3 daysOpen - DesignCore
Check feasibility and cost with engineering
Before committing, check with engineers that the design can be built with the time, skills and technology you have, and roughly what it will cost. Finding out late is far more expensive.
- Technical and AI fluency
- Design and user experience
2-5 daysOpen - DesignCore
Design for accessibility and inclusion from the start
Designing for people with disabilities and different circumstances from the start is cheaper than fixing it later, and it usually makes the product better for everyone. In many countries it is also a legal duty.
- Design and user experience
1-3 daysOpen - DesignCore
Test a prototype with users
Watching real users try a prototype shows you what works before anything is built. Small, repeated rounds of testing are cheaper and more useful than one big study.
- Design and user experience
- Discovery and research
5-10 daysOpen - DesignCore
Map the user journey end to end
A journey map shows every step a user takes to reach their goal, including steps outside your product. It reveals where the experience breaks and makes sure the design solves the whole problem, not just one screen.
- Design and user experience
- Discovery and research
1-3 daysOpen - DesignAdd-on
Manage AI cost and speed, and decide when to fine-tune
Every AI call costs money and takes time. Estimate both early, pick the cheapest model that meets the quality bar, and use simple savings before anything complex.
- Technical and AI fluency
- Commercial and business sense
2-5 daysOpen - DesignAdd-on
Design for responsible AI and human oversight
Users need to know when AI is involved, how far to trust it and how to correct it. Design for mistakes, fairness and human oversight from the start.
- Design and user experience
- Technical and AI fluency
2-5 daysOpen - DesignAdd-on
Design for uncertain AI output
AI features can give different answers to the same question, and sometimes wrong ones. Design so people know what to expect, can check results and can recover easily.
- Design and user experience
- Technical and AI fluency
3-8 daysOpen - DesignAdd-on
Design for trust and safety
Consumer products can be misused for fraud, abuse or harmful content. Design protections in from the start.
- Design and user experience
2-5 daysOpen - DesignAdd-on
Shorten time to value in onboarding
New users decide quickly whether a product is worth it. Find the first moment they get real value, and remove every step that stands between sign-up and that moment.
- Design and user experience
- Data and measurement
3-10 daysOpen - DesignAdd-on
Design for people who cannot or will not go online
Public services must work for everyone, including people without internet, skills or confidence. Design support routes alongside the digital service.
- Design and user experience
- Discovery and research
3-10 daysOpen - DesignAdd-on
Design an API as a product
An API is a product for developers. Design it to be easy to understand, consistent, well documented and stable.
- Technical and AI fluency
- Design and user experience
3-10 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseCore
Define the smallest valuable release
Decide the smallest version that real users can use and get value from, so you start learning as early as possible. Small does not mean broken: it should solve a real part of the problem well.
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
1-2 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseCore
Turn the roadmap into a delivery plan
A delivery plan shows how the first release will actually get built: the order of work, the milestones, who is needed and what could get in the way. It turns intentions into commitments the team believes in.
- Delivery and execution
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
1-3 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseCore
Break the work into epics and a backlog
Turn the first release into a backlog the team can work from: a few large epics, each broken into smaller items, in priority order. A good backlog makes progress visible and planning easy.
- Delivery and execution
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
1-3 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseCore
Prioritise the work and build a roadmap
You will always have more ideas than time. A simple, shared way of scoring them helps you choose, explain your choices and turn them into a roadmap the team and stakeholders can follow.
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
- Strategy and vision
1-2 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseCore
Share the roadmap and set expectations
A roadmap only helps if people understand it. Share it in a way each audience can use, be clear about what is certain and what is not, and keep it up to date.
- Communication and influence
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
1-2 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseAdd-on
Handle data ownership, lineage and access
Know who owns each data source, where data comes from and who can see it. Good governance keeps data safe, legal and trusted.
- Data and measurement
- Technical and AI fluency
3-5 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseAdd-on
Build and run an experiment backlog
Growth comes from many small, well-chosen tests. Keep a ranked backlog of experiments and run them steadily.
- Data and measurement
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
1-2 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseAdd-on
Prepare for a service assessment
Many public services are assessed against a service standard before moving phase. Prepare by doing the work well and showing it honestly.
- Delivery and execution
- Communication and influence
2-5 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseAdd-on
Work within spend controls and procurement
Public bodies often need approval to spend money on technology and must buy through set routes. Plan for this early.
- Commercial and business sense
- Delivery and execution
1-3 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseAdd-on
Plan a move off a legacy system
Replacing an old system all at once is risky. Move piece by piece, delivering value along the way.
- Technical and AI fluency
- Delivery and execution
5-15 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseAdd-on
Choose and work with a manufacturing partner
Most hardware teams use a contract manufacturer. Choose one that fits your volume and product, and treat them as part of the team.
- Commercial and business sense
- Delivery and execution
5-15 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseAdd-on
Plan around long lead times and supply risk
Some parts take months to arrive, and a single supplier can stop production. Find the risky parts early and plan around them.
- Delivery and execution
- Commercial and business sense
2-4 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseAdd-on
Map who depends on you and plan breaking changes
Other teams build on your platform, so a change you make can break their work. Know who uses what, and give them time and help when something must change.
- Technical and AI fluency
- Communication and influence
3-8 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseAdd-on
Manage dependencies with other teams
In a larger organisation, your plan often depends on other teams' work. Find those dependencies early, agree them in writing and review them often.
- Delivery and execution
- Communication and influence
2-5 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseAdd-on
Put in your first product processes, and keep them light
As a company grows, ad hoc decisions stop working. Add just enough process to keep teams aligned, and drop anything that slows them without helping.
- Delivery and execution
- Leadership and coaching
2-5 daysOpen - Plan and prioritiseAdd-on
Write things down so new joiners can follow: decisions, product docs and a glossary
When a company grows fast, knowledge lives in a few heads. Write down decisions and how the product works so new people can get up to speed without asking.
- Communication and influence
2-4 daysOpen - BuildCore
Make scope trade-offs without losing the goal
Every build hits surprises. When time runs short, cut or simplify work in a way that still meets the user need and the success metric, and make the decision openly.
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
- Delivery and execution
1-4 hoursOpen - BuildCore
Balance new features with technical health
Shortcuts in code, known as technical debt, slow the team down over time. A good PM makes room for fixing them, so the team can keep delivering at speed.
- Technical and AI fluency
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
2-4 hoursOpen - BuildCore
Plan your analytics before you build
Decide what data you need to measure success before the code is written. Adding tracking afterwards is slower, and you lose the baseline you need to prove the change worked.
- Data and measurement
- Technical and AI fluency
1-2 daysOpen - BuildCore
Write user stories with acceptance criteria
User stories describe who needs something and why, so the team builds for a real need. Acceptance criteria say exactly when a story is done, so everyone agrees what to build and how to test it.
- Delivery and execution
- Communication and influence
2-4 hoursOpen - BuildAdd-on
Run prototype and pilot production builds (EVT, DVT and PVT)
Hardware is built several times before mass production. Each build has a purpose and exit criteria: first the design works, then it is right, then the factory can make it.
- Delivery and execution
- Technical and AI fluency
20-60 daysOpen - TestCore
Check acceptance criteria and accessibility
Before anything goes to users, check it does what the stories promised and that disabled people can use it. Accessibility is a legal duty for many services, and fixing problems late costs far more.
- Design and user experience
- Delivery and execution
1-3 daysOpen - TestCore
Run a beta or pilot with real users
Before opening to everyone, let a small group use the real product for real tasks. A beta finds the problems testing cannot and builds confidence for the full launch.
- Discovery and research
- Delivery and execution
5-20 daysOpen - TestCore
Check performance and reliability
Users leave slow or unreliable products. Agree how fast and available the product must be, test that it is, and make sure the team will know quickly when it is not.
- Technical and AI fluency
2-5 daysOpen - TestCore
Check security, privacy and data protection
Before real users and real data arrive, check that the product protects both. Security and privacy problems found after launch are expensive and damage trust.
- Technical and AI fluency
2-10 daysOpen - TestAdd-on
Get ready for enterprise customers
Large organisations need security, compliance, admin controls and support before they buy. Plan these early.
- Commercial and business sense
- Technical and AI fluency
3-10 daysOpen - TestAdd-on
Plan safety testing and certification, such as UKCA or CE marking and radio rules
Physical products must meet safety and conformity rules before they can be sold. Find out which rules apply early, because testing takes time and failures mean redesigns.
- Technical and AI fluency
- Delivery and execution
10-40 daysOpen - TestAdd-on
Evaluate an AI model's quality before launch
AI features can give different answers to the same question and can be confidently wrong. Before launch, define what 'good enough' means and test the AI against a set of realistic examples, then keep testing after release.
- Technical and AI fluency
- Data and measurement
3-5 daysOpen - LaunchCore
Plan the launch and go-to-market
A good product can still fail if the right people do not hear about it or understand it. Plan who you are launching to, what you will tell them and how they will find out.
- Commercial and business sense
- Communication and influence
2-5 daysOpen - LaunchCore
Know what to do when something breaks
Things will go wrong in live service. Agree in advance how the team will spot, fix and communicate problems, and how you will learn from them without blame.
- Delivery and execution
- Technical and AI fluency
1-2 daysOpen - LaunchCore
Plan a release
A release plan makes sure everyone knows what is going out, when, who is affected and what happens if it goes wrong. Releasing small changes gradually keeps the risk low.
- Delivery and execution
1-2 daysOpen - LaunchCore
Prepare support and operations
Make sure the people and processes behind the product are ready on day one: who answers questions, who fixes problems and how issues reach the team.
- Delivery and execution
- Communication and influence
2-5 daysOpen - LaunchAdd-on
Equip sales to sell it
In business software, sales teams need to understand why a customer would buy, not just what the product does. Give them the story, the proof and the answers before launch.
- Commercial and business sense
- Communication and influence
3-5 daysOpen - LaunchAdd-on
Plan a mobile app release
Mobile releases go through app store review and users update slowly. Plan for both.
- Delivery and execution
- Technical and AI fluency
2-5 daysOpen - LaunchAdd-on
Get people to adopt an internal tool
Staff may stick to old ways unless the new tool clearly helps them. Plan adoption as carefully as the build.
- Communication and influence
- Data and measurement
3-10 daysOpen - LaunchAdd-on
Drive platform adoption and migrations
Internal platforms only create value when teams adopt them. Make moving easy, show the benefit and support teams through it.
- Communication and influence
- Technical and AI fluency
5-20 daysOpen - LaunchAdd-on
Plan the change for people, not just systems
New systems fail when people do not change how they work. Plan how people will learn about, want, learn and keep using the new way.
- Communication and influence
- Leadership and coaching
5-15 daysOpen - LaunchAdd-onUK guidance
Plan secure firmware updates after launch, including UK connected-device security law (PSTI)
Connected devices need security updates for years. In the UK, consumer connected products must meet baseline security rules, including how long you will provide updates.
- Technical and AI fluency
- Delivery and execution
5-15 daysOpen - LaunchAdd-on
Get through governance: security reviews, procurement and change boards
Large organisations protect themselves with reviews and approvals. Learn the routes early, plan their lead times, and treat reviewers as partners.
- Delivery and execution
- Communication and influence
3-10 daysOpen - LaunchAdd-on
Cover marketing, support and testing yourself, without dropping product work
In a small start-up, the PM often does support, testing and marketing too. Do them on purpose, learn from them, and protect time for product decisions.
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
- Delivery and execution
1-2 daysOpen - Measure and improveCore
Set up a product dashboard
A dashboard puts the numbers that matter in one place, so the team can see how the product is doing every week without waiting for reports.
- Data and measurement
1-3 daysOpen - Measure and improveCore
Run A/B tests and experiments
An A/B test shows two versions to similar groups of users and compares results. It is the most reliable way to know whether a change caused an improvement.
- Data and measurement
- Discovery and research
5-20 daysOpen - Measure and improveCore
Decide what next: iterate, scale or stop
Use what you have learned to decide the product's next step: keep improving it, invest to grow it, or stop and move the team to something more valuable.
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
- Data and measurement
1-2 daysOpen - Measure and improveCore
Hold a post-launch review
A few weeks after launch, step back as a team: did the product achieve what you hoped, what did you learn, and what will you do differently next time?
- Data and measurement
- Communication and influence
2-4 hoursOpen - Measure and improveCore
Measure results against your hypothesis
Shipping is not the finish line. Check whether the change did what your hypothesis predicted, learn why, and use that to decide what to do next.
- Data and measurement
2-3 daysOpen - Measure and improveCore
Collect and act on user feedback continuously
Numbers tell you what is happening; feedback tells you why. Set up regular ways to hear from users and make sure what they say reaches decisions.
- Discovery and research
- Data and measurement
2-4 hoursOpen - Measure and improveAdd-on
Monitor AI quality in production
AI quality can change after launch as users, data and models change. Monitor quality, cost and safety continuously, and act quickly when they slip.
- Data and measurement
- Technical and AI fluency
2-4 daysOpen - Measure and improveAdd-on
Understand and improve retention
Retention shows whether people keep getting value. Without it, growth leaks away.
- Data and measurement
2-5 daysOpen - Measure and improveAdd-on
Test whether you have product-market fit
Early start-ups live or die on product-market fit. Measure it directly, find who loves the product most, and build for them.
- Discovery and research
- Data and measurement
- Commercial and business sense
3-5 daysOpen - Strategy: UnderstandCore
Understand company goals, customers and trends
Strategy starts from the facts: what the company is trying to achieve, what customers need and what is changing around you. Gather these before forming a view.
- Strategy and vision
- Discovery and research
3-10 daysOpen - Strategy: UnderstandCore
Agree the scope, sponsor and decision the strategy supports
A strategy needs a clear question, an owner and someone senior who will act on it. Agree these first, so the work leads to a decision rather than a document.
- Strategy and vision
- Communication and influence
1-3 daysOpen - Strategy: DiagnoseCore
Assess your organisation's strengths and gaps
A strategy only works if the organisation can deliver it. Be honest about what you are good at, what you lack and what you could build or buy.
- Strategy and vision
2-5 daysOpen - Strategy: DiagnoseCore
Diagnose the core challenge
Good strategy names the main obstacle in the way. A clear diagnosis tells you where to focus, and stops the strategy becoming a list of goals.
- Strategy and vision
- Discovery and research
2-5 daysOpen - Strategy: DiagnoseAdd-on
Find and rank AI opportunities
AI is useful for some problems and wasteful for others. Find where it could help with your core challenge, and rank the opportunities by value, feasibility and risk.
- Strategy and vision
- Technical and AI fluency
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
3-5 daysOpen - Strategy: ChooseCore
Decide whether to build, buy or partner
Build what makes you different, and buy or partner for the rest. Make the choice on purpose for each major capability, including AI.
- Strategy and vision
- Commercial and business sense
- Technical and AI fluency
3-8 daysOpen - Strategy: ChooseCore
Choose your strategic bets and what you won't do
Strategy is choosing where to play and how to win, and saying no to the rest. Pick a few bets that tackle the core challenge, and write down what you are stopping.
- Strategy and vision
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
3-5 daysOpen - Strategy: PlanCore
Allocate people and budget across a portfolio
Leaders decide how much to invest in today's products, the next growth areas and future options. Make the split on purpose and review it regularly.
- Strategy and vision
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
- Commercial and business sense
3-8 daysOpen - Strategy: PlanCore
Turn the strategy into a roadmap of bets
A strategy roadmap shows the bets, the outcomes they aim for and roughly when, without promising every feature and date.
- Strategy and vision
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
2-4 daysOpen - Strategy: AlignCore
Get leaders to commit to the strategy
A strategy only matters if leaders act on it. Bring them in before the final version, deal with objections and agree a clear decision.
- Communication and influence
- Strategy and vision
3-10 daysOpen - Strategy: AlignCore
Help teams turn the strategy into their own plans
Teams need to see how their work links to the strategy. Help them set their own goals and plans from it, rather than handing down a list of tasks.
- Strategy and vision
- Communication and influence
- Leadership and coaching
3-10 daysOpen - Strategy: AlignCore
Write the strategy as a short narrative
A short written narrative explains the strategy better than slides. It forces clear thinking and lets people read, question and remember it.
- Strategy and vision
- Communication and influence
2-4 daysOpen - Strategy: AlignAdd-on
Set up AI governance and policy
Using AI safely needs clear rules: who approves AI uses, how risks are assessed and how people stay in control. Set them up before AI spreads across the organisation.
- Strategy and vision
- Technical and AI fluency
- Leadership and coaching
5-15 daysOpen - Strategy: ReviewCore
Decide when to change course
Strategies need changing when the facts change, but not every quarter. Agree in advance what would make you change course, and test plans for weak points.
- Strategy and vision
1-2 daysOpen - Strategy: ReviewCore
Review the strategy against results
Check regularly whether the bets are working. Use evidence, compare plans with what actually happened and learn before deciding what to change.
- Strategy and vision
- Data and measurement
1-3 daysOpen - Coaching: AssessCore
Interview PMs, leaders and partner teams
Before changing anything, find out how product work really happens. Talk to PMs, their managers and the teams they work with.
- Discovery and research
- Leadership and coaching
5-10 daysOpen - Coaching: AssessCore
Agree the mandate, sponsor and goals
Building product capability changes how people work, so it needs a clear mandate and a senior sponsor. Agree what success looks like before you start.
- Leadership and coaching
- Communication and influence
1-3 daysOpen - Coaching: AssessCore
Assess how mature product practice is
Use a simple framework to see where product practice is strong and where it is weak. It gives you a baseline to measure progress against.
- Leadership and coaching
3-5 daysOpen - Coaching: DesignCore
Design the target way of working for product
Describe how product teams should be set up and work together: who owns what, how decisions are made and how teams relate to each other.
- Leadership and coaching
- Strategy and vision
5-15 daysOpen - Coaching: DesignCore
Define product roles and a career framework
Clear roles and levels help PMs know what is expected and how to grow. Base them on skills and scope, not just titles.
- Leadership and coaching
5-15 daysOpen - Coaching: DesignCore
Set light standards and templates
A few shared standards and templates help teams work consistently without slowing them down. Keep them light and explain why each one exists.
- Leadership and coaching
- Delivery and execution
3-5 daysOpen - Coaching: PilotCore
Coach PMs one to one
Coaching helps PMs apply new skills on their real work. Ask good questions, agree goals and follow up, rather than giving all the answers.
- Leadership and coaching
1-2 hoursOpen - Coaching: PilotCore
Pilot the new way of working with one or two teams
Try the change with one or two willing teams first. Learn what works, fix what doesn't and build proof before scaling.
- Leadership and coaching
- Delivery and execution
20-60 daysOpen - Coaching: PilotCore
Run hands-on training
People learn product skills by doing them. Keep training short and practical, using real work, and follow it up so it sticks.
- Leadership and coaching
- Communication and influence
3-5 daysOpen - Coaching: ScaleCore
Build a community of practice
A community of practice is a group of people who share a craft and learn from each other regularly. It spreads good practice without needing a central team for everything.
- Leadership and coaching
1-2 daysOpen - Coaching: ScaleCore
Get leaders to support and model the change
People copy what leaders do. If leaders keep asking for feature lists and dates, the new way of working won't last.
- Leadership and coaching
- Communication and influence
3-10 daysOpen - Coaching: ScaleCore
Publish a product playbook
A playbook brings together how product work is done: principles, standards, templates and examples. Keep it short, living and easy to find.
- Leadership and coaching
- Communication and influence
5-10 daysOpen - Coaching: SustainCore
Improve how PMs are hired and onboarded
Fair, structured hiring and a good first few months shape the product team for years. Use the career framework to hire and onboard consistently.
- Leadership and coaching
3-8 daysOpen - Coaching: SustainCore
Measure whether capability is improving
Track whether people are working differently and whether it makes a difference, not just whether they attended training.
- Leadership and coaching
- Data and measurement
2-5 daysOpen - Coaching: SustainCore
Make the practice run without you
Capability work succeeds when it no longer depends on one person. Hand over ownership, build it into routines and step back.
- Leadership and coaching
5-15 daysOpen - New to product: Explore the roleCore
Check whether product management is right for you
Product management suits some people and not others, and neighbouring roles may fit better. Check honestly before you spend months on it, and finish with a decision.
- Discovery and research
- Communication and influence
2-4 hoursOpen - New to product: Explore the roleCore
Find the kind of PM role that suits you
The job changes a lot with the kind of product and the kind of organisation. Knowing the main variations helps you choose where to aim and what to learn first.
- Strategy and vision
- Commercial and business sense
2-4 hoursOpen - New to product: Explore the roleCore
Talk to three product managers
Short conversations with working PMs show you what the job is really like. They often lead to advice, introductions and feedback on your practice work. Make a small, easy ask.
- Communication and influence
- Discovery and research
3-5 hoursOpen - New to product: Explore the roleCore
See what product managers really do
Product managers make sure a team builds something people need, that works for the organisation and that can be built. Seeing the real work, not the job-advert version, helps you decide whether it suits you.
- Communication and influence
- Delivery and execution
1-2 daysOpen - New to product: Build foundationsCore
Use AI tools to learn product management, carefully
AI assistants can explain ideas, critique your writing and act as a practice partner. They can also be confidently wrong. Use them to speed up learning, never to replace your own thinking or your own evidence.
- Technical and AI fluency
2-4 hoursOpen - New to product: Build foundationsCore
Map your skills to product management
Most people arrive in product with strong skills from another job and a few gaps. Listing both shows you what to emphasise and what to learn first.
- Communication and influence
2-4 hoursOpen - New to product: Build foundationsCore
Learn the numbers product managers use
PMs use a small set of numbers to see whether a product works: how many people try it, how many stay and whether a change made a difference. You do not need to be a data scientist, but you do need to read numbers well.
- Data and measurement
3-5 daysOpen - New to product: Build foundationsCore
Learn how a product goes from idea to results
Every product team moves through the same broad loop: understand the problem, choose a solution, build it, release it and learn from the results. Seeing the loop makes everything else make sense.
- Discovery and research
- Delivery and execution
2-4 daysOpen - New to product: PractiseCore
Write a one-page brief and prioritise your ideas
Turn what you learned into a short brief and a ranked list of ideas, with reasons. Choosing, and explaining why, is the core craft of the job.
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
- Communication and influence
2-4 daysOpen - New to product: PractiseCore
Choose a small, real practice project
The best proof that you can do the job is to do part of it. Pick a small, real problem you can study with real people, and set a clear scope so that you finish.
- Discovery and research
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
2-4 hoursOpen - New to product: PractiseCore
Decide how you would measure success and test your idea
A good PM says in advance how they will know an idea worked, and runs the cheapest test that could prove them wrong.
- Data and measurement
- Discovery and research
1-2 daysOpen - New to product: PractiseCore
Get feedback on your practice work
Practice only improves with feedback. Ask people who do the job to review your work against what good looks like, then change something.
- Communication and influence
3-5 hoursOpen - New to product: PractiseCore
Turn your project into a case study
A short, honest case study shows how you think, which matters more than polished screens. It is also what you will talk through in interviews.
- Communication and influence
2-4 daysOpen - New to product: PractiseCore
Run a mini discovery with five real people
Talking to a handful of real users is the heart of the job. A small, well-run set of interviews will teach you more than any amount of reading.
- Discovery and research
5-10 daysOpen - New to product: ApplyCore
Find the routes into a first PM role
There is no single door into product. Graduate programmes, adjacent roles, internal moves and smaller companies all work, and some fit you better than others.
- Commercial and business sense
- Communication and influence
2-4 daysOpen - New to product: ApplyCore
Move into product inside your company
For many people the easiest route into product is inside the organisation they already know. Build a case for a real problem, take on product work and ask for the role.
- Communication and influence
- Commercial and business sense
3-5 daysOpen - New to product: ApplyCore
Prepare for product manager interviews
Interviews usually test how you think about users, how you make and measure decisions and how you work with others. Practise out loud with real examples.
- Communication and influence
- Discovery and research
3-5 daysOpen - New to product: ApplyCore
Write a product-focused CV and profile
Hiring managers read quickly. Show outcomes you owned, decisions you made and evidence of product thinking, whatever your previous job title.
- Communication and influence
1-2 daysOpen - Any phaseAdd-on
Give your PMs clear ownership, then step back
Your PMs grow when they own real problems and decisions. Agree who decides what, and resist taking decisions back.
- Leadership and coaching
2-4 hoursOpen - Any phaseAdd-on
Run one-to-ones and give useful feedback
Regular one-to-ones are where you learn what your PMs need and help them grow. Make them about the person, and give feedback that is specific and kind.
- Leadership and coaching
- Communication and influence
1 hourOpen - Any phaseOnboarding
Get up to speed on an existing product
Joining a product that is already being built or is live means learning fast without breaking momentum. Spend your first weeks listening and learning the product, the people and the decisions already made before you change anything.
- Discovery and research
- Technical and AI fluency
10-20 daysOpen - Any phaseOnboarding
Take over a backlog and roadmap
An inherited backlog contains past decisions, promises and clutter. Understand it before changing it.
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
- Delivery and execution
2-5 daysOpen - Any phaseOnboarding
Check the health of a live product
When you take over a live product, check how it is really doing: usage, quality, reliability, costs and user satisfaction.
- Data and measurement
- Discovery and research
3-5 daysOpen - Any phaseOnboarding
Map your stakeholders
When you join an existing product, quickly learn who matters, what they care about and how decisions are made.
- Communication and influence
3-5 daysOpen - Any phaseOnboarding
Learn the technical landscape
Understand the systems behind the product, their constraints and the technical debt, so you can plan realistically.
- Technical and AI fluency
2-5 daysOpen - Any phaseWays of working
Refine the backlog
Refinement is a regular session where the team makes upcoming backlog items clear, small and ready to build. It makes sprint planning quick and calm.
- Delivery and execution
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
1-2 hoursOpen - Any phaseWays of working
Run a useful daily stand-up
A short daily meeting where the team checks progress towards its goal and removes blockers. It should take 15 minutes or less.
- Delivery and execution
15 minutesOpen - Any phaseWays of working
Estimate work as a team
Estimating together helps a team understand the work and plan realistically. The conversation matters more than the number.
- Delivery and execution
- Technical and AI fluency
1-2 hoursOpen - Any phaseWays of working
Report progress to a board or steering group
Steering groups need a clear, honest picture of progress, risks and decisions needed. Good reporting builds trust and gets you help when you need it.
- Communication and influence
- Delivery and execution
2-4 hoursOpen - Any phaseWays of working
Plan with fixed milestones and agile delivery
Many organisations need fixed dates and approval points, but teams still work in short cycles. Plan so both work together.
- Delivery and execution
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
1-2 daysOpen - Any phaseWays of working
Manage flow with a Kanban board
Kanban helps a team finish work rather than start more of it. By limiting work in progress and watching a few simple flow measures, you spot bottlenecks early and deliver more predictably.
- Delivery and execution
2-4 hoursOpen - Any phaseWays of working
Decide what comes next in a Kanban team
In Kanban, work flows continuously. A regular replenishment meeting decides what enters the board next, so the team always works on the most valuable items.
- Delivery and execution
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
30-60 minutesOpen - Any phaseWays of working
Keep a risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies log
A RAID log keeps track of risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies in one place, with owners and actions. It stops important problems slipping through.
- Delivery and execution
1-2 hoursOpen - Any phaseWays of working
Run a retrospective
A regular session where the team looks at how it is working and agrees one or two improvements. It is how teams get better over time.
- Delivery and execution
- Leadership and coaching
1-2 hoursOpen - Any phaseWays of working
Run sprint planning
Sprint planning sets up each sprint: why it matters, what the team will deliver and how. A clear sprint goal helps the team make good trade-offs when things change mid-sprint.
- Delivery and execution
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
1-2 hoursOpen - Any phaseWays of working
Run a sprint review
At the end of each sprint, the team shows what it built to stakeholders and discusses what to do next. It is a working session, not a presentation.
- Delivery and execution
- Communication and influence
1-2 hoursOpen - Any phaseWays of working
Prepare for a stage-gate review
A stage gate is a formal review before moving to the next phase or funding. Prepare evidence, not paperwork, and treat it as a chance to get help.
- Delivery and execution
- Communication and influence
1-3 daysOpen - Any phaseWays of working
Send regular stakeholder updates
Short, regular updates keep stakeholders informed and save meetings. Tell them what changed, what is next and what you need.
- Communication and influence
30-60 minutesOpen - Any phaseCraft
Understand how AI products work and fail
AI is now part of most products. PMs need to understand what AI does well, where it fails, how it is evaluated and what risks it brings, whether or not they build AI features.
- Technical and AI fluency
3-5 daysOpen - Any phaseCraft
Build a business case
A business case shows why an investment is worth making: the problem, the options, the costs, the benefits and the risks. It helps leaders decide and gives you a baseline to measure against.
- Commercial and business sense
- Communication and influence
2-5 daysOpen - Any phaseCraft
Make talking to users a weekly habit
The best product teams talk to users every week, not just at the start of a project. Small, regular contact keeps decisions grounded in reality.
- Discovery and research
1-2 hoursOpen - Any phaseCraft
Make good decisions quickly
Most product decisions can be reversed, so they should be made quickly. A few cannot, and deserve care. Knowing the difference speeds teams up.
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
- Leadership and coaching
1-2 hoursOpen - Any phaseCraft
Brief executives and boards: the short story, the ask, the decision
Senior people have little time. Lead with the point and the decision you need, then give only the detail that supports it.
- Communication and influence
2-4 hoursOpen - Any phaseCraft
Influence without authority, including senior leaders
PMs rarely manage the people they work with. You get things done by building trust, using evidence and understanding what others care about.
- Communication and influence
- Leadership and coaching
1-2 daysOpen - Any phaseCraft
Build a metric tree
A metric tree breaks your top metric into the drivers and inputs that move it. It shows which levers your team can pull and how your work links to the goal.
- Data and measurement
- Strategy and vision
1-2 daysOpen - Any phaseCraft
Choose a north star metric
A north star metric captures the core value users get from the product. Paired with a few input metrics the team can influence, it keeps everyone pulling in the same direction.
- Data and measurement
- Strategy and vision
1-3 daysOpen - Any phaseCraft
Set and use OKRs
Objectives and key results, or OKRs, pair an inspiring goal with a few measurable results. Used well, they focus a team on outcomes rather than a list of tasks.
- Strategy and vision
- Data and measurement
- Prioritisation and roadmapping
1-2 daysOpen - Any phaseCraft
Understand what a product manager does
A product manager makes sure the team builds the right thing: something users need, that works for the organisation and that can be built. Knowing what the role is, and is not, helps you focus your time.
- Delivery and execution
- Communication and influence
1-2 daysOpen - Any phaseCraft
Position your product against the alternatives
Positioning explains what your product is, who it is for and why it is better than the alternatives. Clear positioning makes marketing, sales and even product decisions easier.
- Commercial and business sense
- Strategy and vision
2-4 daysOpen - Any phaseCraft
Price and package a product
Pricing and packaging decide what customers pay for and what they get. They shape who buys, how they use the product and how the business grows.
- Commercial and business sense
5-15 daysOpen - Any phaseCraft
Build a product strategy
Strategy is how you plan to reach the vision: which problems to focus on, which to ignore and why. Good strategy is mostly about saying no.
- Strategy and vision
5-10 daysOpen - Any phaseCraft
Write a product vision
A product vision describes the future you want to create for users, typically three to five years out. It helps teams make good decisions without being told what to do.
- Strategy and vision
- Communication and influence
2-5 daysOpen - Any phaseCraft
Write clearly: briefs, updates and decision records
Much of a PM's influence happens in writing. Clear, short documents help people understand quickly, decide well and remember why.
- Communication and influence
1-2 daysOpen - Any phaseCraft
Answer your own questions with data (SQL basics)
Being able to run a simple query means you can check a hunch in minutes instead of waiting for an analyst. You don't need to be an expert.
- Data and measurement
- Technical and AI fluency
5-10 hoursOpen - Any phaseCraft
Build technical fluency
You do not need to code, but you do need to understand how your product works, what is hard to build and why. Technical fluency earns engineers' trust and leads to better trade-offs.
- Technical and AI fluency
5-10 daysOpen