Frameworks & Models
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An Introduction to KPI Trees
Key performance indicators (KPIs) have become ubiquitous in modern businesses as a way to quantify progress towards goals. While individual KPIs are valuable for measuring specific objectives, simply having a flat list of disjointed KPIs lacks important context and connections. This is where the concept of “KPI trees” comes in handy to map out alignments… Continue reading
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Personas vs. Jobs-to-be-Done: When to Use Each
Personas vs. jobs-to-be-done are two powerful frameworks for understanding customers deeply. Personas are fictional representations of key user segments based on assumptions and qualitative data. Jobs-to-be-done is an approach focused on the functional, emotional, and social jobs customers want to get done which drives product and service selection. There is often debate over which technique… Continue reading
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An Introduction to the McKinsey Innovation Framework
McKinsey & Company has long been regarded as one of the most prestigious and influential management consulting firms in the world. Since its founding in 1926, McKinsey has worked with many of the largest and most successful global corporations to help address their most pressing strategic challenges. One of the issues that McKinsey has provided guidance… Continue reading
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Guide to Value Stream Mapping in Product Development
Value stream mapping (VSM) is a lean management technique used to visualize, analyze, and improve the flow of information or materials required to deliver a product or service to a customer. It was originally developed as part of the Toyota Production System to optimize automotive manufacturing but has since been widely applied for process improvements… Continue reading
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A3 Problem Solving: A Lean Approach for Product Managers
In product management, identifying and resolving problems efficiently is crucial for success. Enter A3 problem solving, a lean approach that has gained widespread popularity across various industries. This structured methodology, derived from the Toyota Production System, empowers product managers to tackle complex challenges systematically, fostering continuous improvement and driving innovation. What is A3 problem solving?… Continue reading
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Lagging and Leading Indicators 101 for Product Managers
Product managers rely on various performance metrics to track the health of their products and make sound, data-driven decisions. These metrics are broadly divided into two categories – Lagging and Leading Indicators. Lagging indicators and leading indicators. Lagging indicators evaluate past performance based on results like revenue, customer satisfaction scores, and churn rate. Leading indicators… Continue reading
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Using Value Stream Mapping to Optimize Flow
Value stream mapping is a lean management tool that enables organizations to visualize their workflows from end to end. Understanding how work flows through a process is critical for identifying waste, delays, and constraints. For agile product development teams, value stream mapping offers an impactful way to optimize development cycles to improve flow. This post… Continue reading
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Unleashing Innovation with the Opportunity Solution Tree
Staying ahead of the curve requires a keen ability to identify opportunities and craft innovative solutions. The Opportunity Solution Tree, a powerful ideation and problem-solving technique, offers a structured approach to unlocking new possibilities and driving product success. By combining creative thinking with a systematic framework, this tool empowers product teams to explore a wide… Continue reading
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The Progressive Product Managers Toolkit – 10 Unconventional Techniques to Try
As a product manager, you’re constantly seeking new ways to drive innovation, streamline processes, and create products that resonate with your users. While traditional methodologies like Agile and Lean have their merits, sometimes you need to think outside the box and embrace unconventional techniques to gain a competitive edge. In this post “The Progressive Product… Continue reading
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A Guide to Market Segmentation for Product Managers
Market Segmentation for Product Managers – Market segmentation is an essential process for product managers to understand their target customers on a deeper level. Segmentation involves dividing a broad target market into subsets of customers with common needs, behaviors, and attributes. An effective segmentation strategy enables product managers to create customer personas, identify opportunities for… Continue reading
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Guide to Applying Design Thinking for Product Managers
Design thinking is a human-centric approach to innovation and problem-solving that prioritizes understanding user needs, rapidly generating ideas, and continually iterating through testing and feedback. Unlike analytical thinking which focuses on hard data and metrics, design thinking taps into a more creative, collaborative, and empathetic frame of mind to uncover innovative solutions. This design-centric process… Continue reading
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A Guide to Performing Risk Assessments for Product Managers
Performing Risk Assessments for Product Managers – As a product manager, one of your most important responsibilities is assessing potential risks that could impact your product or project. Performing thorough and regular risk assessments allows you to identify issues early and take steps to mitigate them before they turn into major problems down the road. … Continue reading
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Boost Product Success with Empathy Mapping: An Actionable Framework for Customer Centricity
Empathy mapping is a collaborative tool used to gain a deeper insight into what customers think, feel, see, hear, and experience. As products become more user-centric, empathy mapping has become an essential framework for product teams to employ. This powerful method enables teams to step into their customer’s shoes and identify touchpoints that frustrate or… Continue reading
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Managing Complex Projects with the DARCI Framework
Project management frameworks provide structure and processes for organizing work to meet desired objectives on schedule and budget. Yet many traditional frameworks like Waterfall assume a predictable, linear execution that fails when projects are complex, ambiguous, or unpredictable. The DARCI framework offers a new approach specifically designed to navigate complexity. Created by experts at the… Continue reading
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Prioritize Your Product Backlog Using Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)
Having a prioritized product backlog is critical for agile teams to deliver maximum value. But with a laundry list of features, enhancements, bugs, and other items, how do you logically rank what should get worked on first? This is where the Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) framework comes in handy. WSJF provides a formula to… Continue reading
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