Product management

Overview

Use this skill as the optional Product Management family entry point when the work spans more than one product decision or when the correct method is not yet clear. It organizes a small, context-appropriate product workflow instead of loading every framework at once. When a specialist contract already matches the question, use that building block directly.

The skill is consultative. It may structure a decision, compare methods, identify missing evidence, and hand off to another skill. It must not approve investment, change a roadmap, create delivery tasks, or replace macro governance.

Read only the modules that match the current decision. Use the references in this skill for method selection and limits; do not treat a framework score as an automatic decision.

When to Use

• A product request contains several connected decisions.
• The problem, outcome, evidence, or decision owner is unclear.
• A team needs to choose a product method before applying it.
• The requester knows the desired product outcome but not which product capability to start with.
• A product decision needs explicit evidence gaps, human ownership, and a next handoff.
• A roadmap, metric, discovery, or prioritization discussion risks becoming activity without a decision.

When NOT to Use

• The task already has a clear product decision and only needs one specialized skill.
• Delivery planning is ready and the question is only implementation sequencing (use feature-planning).
• The work is only research capture with no product interpretation (use an appropriate research or documentation workflow).
• The requester expects the skill to approve investment, alter a roadmap, create issues, or execute external actions.

Core Moves

1. Frame the work. State the desired outcome, user or customer, problem, decision owner, current context, and evidence already available. Separate observed facts from hypotheses, assumptions, and requests.
2. Classify the decision. Identify the dominant stage (frame, discover, decide, define, deliver, or learn) and the decision shape (problem, opportunity, feature, portfolio bet, sequence, metric, or outcome review).
3. Select the smallest sufficient path. Activate only the modules needed for the decision. Hand off to existing skills when they already own the required contract. Name methods that were rejected and why.
4. Execute with explicit uncertainty. Apply the selected module and method. Label facts, evidence, estimates, inferences, assumptions, and unresolved conflicts. Do not manufacture customer data, business results, or confidence.
5. Verify and hand off. Check whether the output answers the decision, names its limits, preserves human decisions, and states the next action, stop condition, or specialized handoff.

Optional Modules

• Problem framing — Read modules/problem-framing.md when the request starts from a feature, solution, or mandate without a stable problem and outcome.
• Discovery and evidence — Read modules/discovery-and-evidence.md when evidence is missing, contradictory, or too weak to support a product claim.
• Prioritization and method selection — Read modules/prioritization-and-method-selection.md when competing work must be compared or a framework choice is contested. Load only the relevant method profile from references/.
• Metrics and outcomes — Read modules/metrics-and-outcomes.md when the work needs an outcome, metric, proxy, guardrail, owner, or review cadence.
• Stakeholder alignment — Planned module for a later slice; use triad-check or communication for current cross-functional alignment needs.
• Strategy and opportunity — Planned module for a later slice; use business-design and opportunity-tree-alignment for the current strategy and opportunity contracts.
• Roadmap and sequencing — Planned module for a later slice; use feature-planning after a value decision is ready, and state sequencing limits explicitly.
• Learning review — Planned module for a later slice; use observability-review and checkpoint-review for current signal and review needs.

Activation Triggers

• Activate problem framing when the request names a solution before a problem, outcome, or user is clear.
• Activate discovery and evidence when the decision depends on unverified user, market, or behavior claims.
• Activate prioritization and method selection when multiple candidates compete for scarce capacity, or when a scoring framework is proposed without sufficient inputs.
• Activate metrics and outcomes when success is expressed only as activity, output, or a vague goal.
• Hand off to feature-value-governance when the question is whether a proposed feature deserves investment.
• Hand off to opportunity-tree-alignment when the question is how opportunities and features connect to outcomes and value levers.
• Hand off to feature-planning only after the work is judged worth doing and the first delivery slice can be defined.
• Hand off to observability-review when the metric or signal requires instrumentation, owner, threshold, or operational action.
• Escalate unresolved human ownership, policy, authorization, or cross-boundary decisions rather than resolving them inside the skill.

Expected Output

product_management_review:
  decision:
    question: <decision to support>
    stage: frame | discover | decide | define | deliver | learn
    shape: problem | opportunity | feature | portfolio | sequence | metric | outcome_review
  framing:
    outcome: <desired outcome or unknown>
    user_or_customer: <who is affected or unknown>
    problem: <problem statement or unresolved>
    decision_owner: <person or group, if known>
  evidence:
    observed: [<facts or source-backed observations>]
    hypotheses: [<claims to test>]
    assumptions: [<unverified premises>]
    gaps: [<missing evidence>]
  path:
    primary_module: <module>
    supporting_modules: [<module>]
    handoffs: [<skill and reason>]
    rejected_methods: [<method and reason>]
  result:
    recommendation_or_finding: <bounded result>
    confidence: high | medium | low | not_assessed
    limitations: [<limits>]
  human_decisions: [<decisions not delegated>]
  verification:
    success_condition: <what would show the output is useful>
    next_step: <next action, stop, or handoff>

Verification

• The product question, stage, decision shape, and decision owner are explicit or marked unknown.
• Facts, hypotheses, assumptions, and evidence gaps are separated.
• Only necessary modules and references were loaded.
• A method is selected because it fits the decision shape and available evidence, not because it is familiar.
• Rejected methods and their reasons are visible when method choice matters.
• Existing skills are handed off instead of being restated or duplicated.
• The output states confidence, limitations, human decisions, and a verifiable next step.
• No investment, roadmap, delivery, or external side effect is approved by this skill.

Handoff Signals

• Missing outcome, success definition, or decision owner → intent-clarification.
• Feature worthiness is unresolved → feature-value-governance.
• Outcome, opportunity, lever, and feature links are unclear → opportunity-tree-alignment.
• Business thesis needs structured interpretation → business-design.
• Complexity or reversibility is decisive → feature-complexity-audit.
• A feature is worth doing and needs an executable slice → feature-planning.
• Metric instrumentation or operational thresholds are required → observability-review.
• Decision crosses product, design, and engineering → triad-check.
• A value claim needs a business or revenue mechanism → revenue-lever-mapping.
• Existing capability may need to be limited, deprecated, or removed → sunset-decision.

Pairs Well With

• intent-clarification
• business-design
• feature-value-governance
• opportunity-tree-alignment
• revenue-lever-mapping
• feature-complexity-audit
• feature-planning
• observability-review
• triad-check
• sunset-decision

Anti-patterns

• Loading every Product Management framework before understanding the decision.
• Treating a numerical score as a decision rather than a conversation aid.
• Inventing reach, impact, confidence, customer evidence, revenue, or outcomes.
• Writing a PRD, roadmap, or delivery plan before the underlying decision is ready.
• Duplicating the contract of an existing Adaptive Skill inside a module.
• Creating a new skill when a module is sufficient.
• Hiding uncertainty behind polished product language.
• Treating stakeholder pressure, executive preference, or a loud request as evidence of value.
• Making a human-owned investment, policy, authorization, or governance decision on the user's behalf.