Thread by @hey_rick__

My Product Manager Operating System (PMOS)

The 9 templates and frameworks I've found super valuable in 10+ years of building and growing products.

Adopted from Basecamp, Amazon, and more.

A thread 🧵

The goals of a Product Manager Operating System (PMOS)

- Toolkit that can be applied to any role (with some situational tweaks)
- Help to quickly understand the product environment
- Built in ready to use, highly collaborative apps like Notion & Figma.

Let's dive in 👇

Business Model Canvas

Popular in the lean startup world. Also REALLY useful to understand how and why a business does what it does.

Roadmap

You need high confidence in short-term items AND lots of inspiration for further down the line to keep people excited for the future

I'm a fan of the 6-week planning cycles Basecamp, Intercom, and others.

It combines a now/next/later structure with outcomes

6-week planning approach can also double as a timeline for those stakeholders who love due dates.

But if you're working on highly complex enterprise products, this might not vibe.

The template from @NotionHQ is a good alternative.

https://twitter.com/notionhq/status/1179154018230243329?lang=en

@NotionHQ PRD

The purpose of a PRD is alignment. Don't overthink it.

It needs to be short, simple, and easily digestible by all audiences.

@kevinyien has a great one with an emphasis on execution.

https://twitter.com/kevinyien/status/1402784082073956356

@NotionHQ @kevinyien Mock press releases

Part of Amazon's culture of working backwards

This is more of a philosophy than framework

@TrungTPhan gives a solid overview

https://twitter.com/trungtphan/status/1412067606605926402?lang=en

@NotionHQ @kevinyien @TrungTPhan Story mapping

You'll need to visualize the roadmap in a way that represents the user instead of the business.

This is a lot easier to look at than a spreadsheet or jira board.

@johncutlefish endorsement of @jeffpatton's approach is all you need.

https://twitter.com/johncutlefish/status/1474203025715597315

@NotionHQ @kevinyien @TrungTPhan @johncutlefish @jeffpatton KPI Tree

Simple way to understand the business impact the product is driving. Especially critical for growth roles.

@MelindaElmborg has a good example.

@NotionHQ @kevinyien @TrungTPhan @johncutlefish @jeffpatton @MelindaElmborg Side note - if you don't understand product metrics, check out this thread and deep dive from @thiagocb

https://twitter.com/thiagocb/status/1488938023697924101

@NotionHQ @kevinyien @TrungTPhan @johncutlefish @jeffpatton @MelindaElmborg @thiagocb Planning Timeline

Product managers and engineers prefer not to have timelines. But the real world has important dates and deadlines, so you're going to need

The key is to keep it simple and not spend a ton of time on it. Avoid Gantt charts at all cost.

@NotionHQ @kevinyien @TrungTPhan @johncutlefish @jeffpatton @MelindaElmborg @thiagocb Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) Framework

This is the best way to understand why your customers actually want your product.

I turn the below visualization into a spreadsheet that constantly gets updated throughout the discovery process.

@NotionHQ @kevinyien @TrungTPhan @johncutlefish @jeffpatton @MelindaElmborg @thiagocb ICE Prioritization

You can waste a lot of time deciding what features to build before actually working on it.

Ranking features by Impact, Confidence, and Ease is a quick way to set priorities and get to work.

https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1399042797525553152

@NotionHQ @kevinyien @TrungTPhan @johncutlefish @jeffpatton @MelindaElmborg @thiagocb DACI Decision Making Framework

Underperforming teams are often bad at making decisions.

Nominating a Driver, Approver, Contributers, and Informed helps speed up decision-making.

https://twitter.com/Confluence/status/1469416133606486018

@NotionHQ @kevinyien @TrungTPhan @johncutlefish @jeffpatton @MelindaElmborg @thiagocb That's my toolkit! Still a work in progress.

What do you think? What did I miss? What alternatives to you prefer?