Product Management, Design and Discovery — Cheat Sheet¶

Feature: Email digest of weekly activity
Reach: 800 users/quarter
Impact: 0.5 (low — nice to have)
Confidence: 80%
Effort: 2 person-months

RICE = (800 × 0.5 × 0.8) / 2 = 160

                High Value
                    │
       Quick Wins   │   Major Projects
  ─────────────────┼─────────────────
       Fill-ins     │   Thankless Tasks
                    │
                Low Value
        Low Effort      High Effort

OBJECTIVE: [Qualitative, inspiring statement of what you want to achieve]
Time horizon: [Quarter/Year]
Owner: [Team or individual]

  KR1: [Metric] from [current baseline] → [target] by [date]
  KR2: [Metric] from [current baseline] → [target] by [date]
  KR3: [Metric] from [current baseline] → [target] by [date]

Initiatives supporting this OKR:
  • [Project or experiment 1]
  • [Project or experiment 2]
  • [Project or experiment 3]

OBJECTIVE: Dramatically improve new user activation
Time horizon: Q3 2026
Owner: Growth team

  KR1: % users completing core action in first 7 days: 23% → 40%
  KR2: Median time-to-first-value: 4 days → 1 day
  KR3: D7 retention for new users: 31% → 45%

Initiatives:
  • Redesign onboarding checklist (in discovery)
  • Add contextual tooltips for first-time users (in development)
  • Email activation sequence experiment (planned)

As a [type of user],
I want [to do something / to have something happen],
so that [I can achieve a goal / get a benefit].

Acceptance criteria:
  • [Criterion 1 — specific and testable]
  • [Criterion 2 — specific and testable]
  • [Criterion 3 — edge case or error state]

Out of scope:
  • [What this story deliberately does NOT cover]

Open questions:
  • [Anything still to be decided before development]

[User type] struggles to [task/goal] when [context/situation]
because [root cause], which results in [negative outcome].

We believe that [proposed solution approach] will help [user type]
to [accomplish goal], as measured by [success metric].

New users (< 7 days) struggle to find their first meaningful action in the product
when they log in for the first time, because the home screen shows all features equally
without guidance, which results in 60% of new users leaving without completing a
core action and not returning.

We believe that a contextual first-run experience that surfaces one core action will
help new users experience value faster, as measured by % completing core action in day 1.

PRODUCT: [Product name]
DATE: [Quarter/Year]
AUTHOR: [PM name]

VISION (5 years):
[One paragraph: What does the world look like if we succeed? What has changed for users?]

STRATEGY (1–2 years — how we win):
[2–3 sentences: What bets are we making? What are we explicitly NOT doing?]

TARGET USERS:
  Primary: [Most important user segment — who we optimize for]
  Secondary: [Other users we serve but don't sacrifice primary for]

NORTH STAR METRIC: [The one metric that best captures user value]
Current: [X] → Target in 12 months: [Y]

PRODUCT BETS (top 3 priorities):
  1. [Bet 1] — Hypothesis: [X] → Expected outcome: [Y]
  2. [Bet 2] — Hypothesis: [X] → Expected outcome: [Y]
  3. [Bet 3] — Hypothesis: [X] → Expected outcome: [Y]

EXPLICITLY NOT DOING (for now):
  • [Thing 1] — revisit in [time period] if [condition]
  • [Thing 2]

Need to prioritize a backlog?
│
├── If you have data on user reach → Use RICE
│
├── If you lack data (early stage) → Use ICE
│
├── If you have stakeholder pressure to "do everything" → Use MoSCoW to force tradeoffs
│
├── If you need to understand user satisfaction drivers → Use Kano model
│
└── If you have a binary keep/cut decision → Use value vs. effort matrix