10 parts · 17 chapters
Product Management
Product management is the job of deciding what to build, for whom, and why now, and then making sure it actually solves the problem. Staff engineers do a lot of this work without the title; understanding the discipline makes you a better partner and a better builder.
Ten parts: what product managers actually do; discovery and jobs to be done; strategy, vision and positioning; roadmaps and prioritisation; writing PRDs and specs; metrics from the north star to guardrails; experiments and launches; working with engineering and design; stakeholders, executives and go-to-market; and business models, unit economics and fintech economics.
discoveryProblems worth solving, user research, jobs to be done, opportunity trees.
strategyVision, positioning, bets and what you will not do.
prioritisationRICE, cost of delay, opportunity cost, saying no.
specsPRDs that engineers want to read.
metricsNorth star, inputs, guardrails, and experiment design.
businessUnit economics, take rates, interest margins, CAC and LTV.
00
What Product Managers Actually Do
Four risks and a trio · Kinds of PM, and the engineer's overlap
2 ch · ~12 min01Discovery: Problems Worth Solving
Outcomes, opportunities and jobs · Interviews and assumption tests
2 ch · ~12 min02Strategy, Vision and Positioning
Vision, strategy and objectives · Positioning
2 ch · ~12 min03Roadmaps and Prioritisation
Scoring, and its limits · Cost of delay and saying no
2 ch · ~12 min04Writing PRDs and Specs
A PRD engineers want to read
1 ch · ~8 min05Metrics: North Star, Inputs and Guardrails
A metrics tree · Funnels, cohorts and instrumentation
2 ch · ~12 min06Experiments and Launches
From hypothesis to launch · Experiment pitfalls and launch checklists
2 ch · ~12 min07Working with Engineering and Design
A healthy trio
1 ch · ~8 min08Stakeholders, Executives and Go-to-Market
Stakeholders and executive communication
1 ch · ~8 min09Business Models, Unit Economics and Fintech Economics
Unit economics · Fintech business models
2 ch · ~12 minPairs with Product Engineering and ThinkingCourse 51 covers product thinking from an engineer's seat; course 52 covers critical and systems thinking; Books covers Accelerate and Team Topologies.