Product Management Terms and Definitions Glossary

A/B Test

An A/B test aims to compare the performance of two items or variations against one another. In product management, A/B tests are often used...

AARRR Pirate Metrics Framework

What is AARRR Pirate Metrics? AARRR Pirate Metrics framework is an acronym for a set of five user-behavior metrics that product-led growth businesses should...

Acceptance Criteria

In agile methodologies, acceptance criteria refers to a set of predefined requirements that must be met in order to mark a user story complete....

Acceptance Test

What is an acceptance test? Learn more about acceptance testing and other agile practices and terminology in our agile glossary.

Action Priority Matrix

What is an Action Priority Matrix? An action priority matrix is a diagram that helps people determine which tasks to focus on, and in...

Adaptive Software Development (ASD)

Adaptive Software Development (ASD) is a direct outgrowth of an earlier agile framework, Rapid Application Development (RAD). It aims to enable teams to quickly...

Affinity Diagram

An affinity diagram helps teams visualize and review large amounts of information by grouping items into categories. This post discusses why affinity diagrams are...

Affinity Grouping

Affinity grouping can be used as a collaborative prioritization activity. It works by having a group of participants brainstorm ideas and opportunities on Post-It...

Agile

Agile is an iterative product-development methodology in which teams work in brief, incremental “sprints,” and then regroup frequently to review the work and make...

Agile Framework

An agile framework is one of many documented software-development approaches based on the agile philosophy articulated in the Agile Manifesto.

Agile Manifesto

The Agile Manifesto is a brief document built on 4 values and 12 principles for agile software development. The Agile Manifesto was published in...

Agile Principles

There are 12 agile principles outlined in The Agile Manifesto in addition to the 4 agile values. These 12 principles for agile software development help...

Agile Product Owner

What is an Agile Product Owner? In an agile organization, the product owner is responsible for prioritizing and overseeing the development team’s tasks and...

Agile Release Train

What is an agile release train? An Agile Release Train (ART) is a feature of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). It is a long-term,...

Agile Transformation

Agile transformation is the process of transitioning an entire organization to a nimble, reactive approach based on agile principles. Understanding agile transformation begins with...

Agile Values

Agile Values refers to the set of 4 values outlined by the Agile Alliance in The Agile Manifesto. This set of values encourages putting...

Alpha Test

An alpha test is typically conducted by a product manager at the point when development is near completion. It generally occurs before any beta...

Annual Recurring Revenue

What Is Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)? Annual recurring revenue (ARR) refers to all ongoing revenue for a product or business, projected over one year....

Backlog Grooming

Backlog grooming, also referred to as backlog refinement or story time, is a recurring event for agile product development teams. The primary purpose of...

Behavioral Product Management

What is Behavioral Product Management? Behavioral product management applies behavioral science and human psychology to product design. When planning their products, behavioral product managers...

Beta Test

A beta test is a widespread pre-launch distribution of a product (typically software), in which users are asked to try the product and provide...

Bill of Materials (BOM)

A bill of materials (BOM) is a complete list of the materials needed to build a product. A BOM typically lists all the parts...

Bubble Sort

Product managers can use bubble sort to arrange a string of initiatives in the correct order based on prioritization scores.

Bucket Sort

What is Bucket Sort? Bucket Sort is a sorting technique that places items in buckets, or categories. These items are then prioritized or ranked...

Burndown Chart

What is a burndown chart and how are they used? Learn more about burndown charts and other terminology in our product management glossary.

Business Agility

What is Business Agility? Business agility applies the principles of agile development to the entire organization. This allows companies to be more responsive to...

Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence (BI), is a method of compiling, analyzing and interpreting business data to make better-informed decisions. BI data is typically compiled through extensive...

Business Model Canvas

A business model canvas is a one-page summary describing the high-level strategic details needed to get a business (or product) successfully to market. The...

Business Transformation

What is Business Transformation? Business transformation is an umbrella term for making fundamental changes in how a business or organization runs. This includes personnel,...

Buy-a-Feature

Buy-a-Feature is one of many prioritization frameworks product managers can use. It's commonly used to help organizations identify the features that customers and key...

Buyer Persona

A buyer persona is often created by product teams to describe the broad cohort of individuals who have a say in the purchasing process....

Cannibalization

What is product cannibalization? Learn more about cannibalization and other product management terminology in our resources library.

Certified Product Manager

What is a Certified Product Manager? A certified product manager is a PM who has completed an education program from a product industry organization....

Change Enablement

What Is Change Enablement? Change enablement, called change management, refers to providing people with the necessary information and support–alongside tools, processes, and strategies– to...

Change Management

Learn how change management refers to a systematic approach to supporting employees and teams through transitions to new processes or tools.

Change Management Principles

What Are Change Management Principles? Change management principles are the guiding practices business leaders should follow to effectively manage change, transitions, and disruptions within...

Channels of Distribution

A channel of distribution is the method a company uses to get a product or service into the hands of a consumer as efficiently...

Chief Product Officer

What is a Chief Product Officer? A chief product officer (CPO) is a corporate title referring to an executive who leads the entire product...

Churn

Churn is a measurement of the percentage of accounts that cancel or choose not to renew their subscriptions. A high churn rate can negatively...

CIRCLES Method

What is the CIRCLES Method? The CIRCLES method is a problem-solving framework that helps product managers (PMs) make a thorough and thoughtful response to...

Competitive Intelligence

What is Competitive Intelligence? Competitive intelligence is defined as data-driven insight into the competitive landscape of your target market. Consequently, it breaks down where...

Competitive Landscape

What is competitive landscape? The term refers to the list of options a customer could choose rather than your product.

Concept Review

What is a concept review? The term refers to the initial idea for a new product or feature and its implementation.

Continuous Delivery

In software product development, continuous delivery (CD) is the successful execution of continuous deployment. Whereas continuous deployment aims to reduce the amount of time...

Continuous Deployment

In software product development, continuous deployment refers to a strategy that aims to reduce the amount of time between writing code and pushing it...

Continuous Improvement

What Is Continuous Improvement? Continuous improvement is a company culture that encourages all employees to look for ways to enhance the business’s operations. This...

Continuous Integration

Continuous integration or CI, refers to an engineering practice that is said to help automate certain pieces of work and identify bugs early in...

Cost of Delay

Cost of delay (CoD) is a prioritization framework that helps a business quantify the economic value of completing a project sooner as opposed to...

Cross-Functional Team

A cross-functional team refers to a group which contains expertise or representation from various "functional" departments. For example, an agile cross-functional team may consist...

Crystal Agile Framework

What is the Crystal Method? Crystal is an agile framework focusing on individuals and their interactions, as opposed to processes and tools. In other...

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Customer Acquisition Cost, or CAC, measures how much you’re spending to acquire new customers. Analyzing CAC in conjunction with LTV or MRR is a...

Customer Advisory Board

A customer advisory board is a group of customers who come together on a regular basis to share insights and advice with an organization....

Customer Development

Customer development is the portion of the Lean Startup methodology aimed at understanding the problem. This requires first fully vetting the opportunity and validating...

Customer Empathy

Customer empathy is understanding the underlying needs and feelings of customers. It goes beyond recognizing and addressing their tactical requirements and puts things into...

Customer Experience

What Is Customer Experience? Customer experience refers to the totality of a customer’s encounters with a business and how those interactions make the person...

Customer Feedback

What is customer feedback? Customer feedback is information from those who buy and use your product. Moreover, product managers, designers, marketers, and salespeople, depend...

Customer Journey Map

Customer journey maps are visual depictions of the various touch points customers make over time when interacting with an organization. They can outline various...

Captive Product Pricing

Captive product pricing is a pricing strategy to attract a large volume of customers to purchase a core product once that has accessories.

Customer Validation

What Is Customer Validation? Customer validation is an essential phase of the product development process (i.e., the steps needed to take a product from...

DACI Decision-Making Framework

The DACI decision-making framework is a model designed to improve a team's effectiveness and velocity on projects, by assigning team members specific roles and...

Daily Scrum

What is a daily scum? Daily scrums are quick meetings held each day for the members of the product development team working on a...

Data Product Manager

A data product manager focuses on collecting, organizing, storing, and sharing product management data within an organization.

DEEP Backlog

A DEEP Backlog is one of the suggested objectives of a product backlog grooming session. DEEP is an acronym used to indicate a few key...

Definition of Done

In the Scrum agile framework, Definition of Done describes the requirements that must be met in order for a story to be considered complete....

Definition of Ready

Definition of Ready describes the requirements that must be met in order for a story to move from the backlog to development. In keeping...

Dependency

In project management, a dependency describes a relationship between two initiatives that must be executed in a particular order. If Initiative A is dependent...

Design Concept

In product management, a design concept is a short description of the idea behind a planned product.

Design Ops

What is design ops, and why should you adapt it for your culture? Learn the basics of design ops and how to incorporate it...

Design Thinking

Design thinking is a framework for innovation based on viewing problems or needs from the user’s perspective. Because this human-centered approach demands a thorough...

DevOps

DevOps combines traditional software development and IT operations into a unified framework, merging coding, testing, packaging, integration, deployment, and monitoring into a single overarching...

Digital Product Manager

What Is a Digital Product Manager? A product manager is responsible for driving the development of products to market success. A digital product manager...

Digital Transformation

Digital transformation refers to the trend where businesses use digital technologies to enhance and replace existing business processes.

Disciplined Agile (DA)

What is Disciplined Agile? Disciplined Agile (DA), is a process decision framework that puts individuals first and offers only lightweight guidance to help teams...

Disruptive Innovation

Disruptive innovation is a term coined by Clayton M. Christensen to describe any type of innovation that creates a new industry, market, or business...

Distinctive Competence

Distinctive competence refers to a superior characteristic, strength, or quality that distinguishes a company from its competitors. This distinctive quality can be just about...

Documentation

Explore how to document a product roadmap to help align your product team to meet their OKRs and develop a clear go-to-market plan.

Dual-Track Agile

Dual-track agile is where the cross-functional product team breaks its daily development work into two tracks: discovery and delivery.

Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)

The Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) is an agile framework that addresses the entire project lifecycle and its impact on the business. Like the...

Eisenhower Matrix

What is the Eisenhower Matrix? The Eisenhower Matrix is a productivity, prioritization, and time-management framework designed to help you prioritize a list of tasks...

End-User Era

What Is the End-User Era? The end-user era refers to a new trend in how businesses buy software. The decisions about which enterprise applications...

Engineering Backlog

The engineering backlog lists and prioritizes the stories, epics, and/or initiatives that are to be worked on by the engineering team for a given...

Enterprise Architecture Planning

What is Enterprise Architecture? Enterprise architecture is a strategic and comprehensive blueprint for how IT infrastructure will be used across an organization to help...

Enterprise Architecture Roadmap

What is an Enterprise Architecture Roadmap? An enterprise architecture roadmap is a strategic blueprint that communicates how a company’s IT plans will help the...

Enterprise Feedback Management

What is enterprise feedback management? Enterprise feedback management (EFM) describes the processes and software used to collect and manage customer feedback at an enterprise-level...

Enterprise Transformation

What Is Enterprise Transformation? Enterprise transformation refers to a fundamental change in the way a business operates. Consequently, this could include a change to...

Epic

An epic, like a theme, is typically a group of features or stories with a common strategic goal. Note that an epic is one...

eXtreme Programming (XP)

What is eXtreme Programming? eXtreme Programming (XP) is an agile framework that emphasizes both the broader philosophy of agile—to produce higher-quality software to please...

Feature Audit

A feature audit is an exercise to give a product team a visual snapshot of how many customers use each feature in the product,...

Feature Bloat

What is Feature Bloat? Feature bloat is a term to describe the result of packing too many features and functionalities into a product. Usually,...

Feature Creep

What is feature creep? Learn more about feature creeep and other product management terminology in our resources library.

Feature Driven Development (FDD)

What is Feature Driven Development? (FDD) Feature Driven Development (FDD) is an agile framework that, as its name suggests, organizes software development around making...

Feature Factory

What is a Feature Factory? In product management lingo, feature factory is typically a derogatory term. It describes a business focused on building features...

Feature Flag

A feature flag refers to a team’s ability to turn a feature or functionality “on” or “off” at their discretion. Feature flags help a...

Feature Kickoff

A product feature kickoff is a meeting in which a product manager and stakeholders set plans, goals, and responsibilities for a new feature.

Feature-Less Roadmap

How can your team be more outcome focused? Transition to a feature-less roadmap to ship initiatives that provide real user value.

Feature Outcome Assessment

What Is a Feature Outcome Assessment? A feature outcome assessment focuses on specific, measurable outcomes rather than product features. Why Is It Important for...

Features

What are product features? Learn more about product features and other product management terminology in our resources library.

Feedback Management

What is feedback management? Feedback management collects user feedback to identify opportunities to improve a product or service. Product teams who regularly listen to...

Fibonacci Agile Estimation

Fibonacci agile estimation refers to using this sequence as the scoring scale when estimating the effort of agile development tasks.

Finance Product Manager

What is a finance product manager? Like a product manager in any other industry, a finance product manager is responsible for the success of...

Fundamentally New Product

A fundamentally new product gives customers the ability to do something that no existing product can.

Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart, or harmonogram, is a bar chart that graphically illustrates a schedule for planning, coordinating, and tracking specific tasks related to a...

General Availability (GA)

What is General Availability? General Availability (GA) is the release of a product to the general public. When a product reaches GA, it becomes...

GIST Planning

GIST planning is to only build products and solutions with the objectives of the organization in mind. So how can you use GIST planning?

Go-to-Market Strategy

What is a Go-to-Market Strategy? A go-to-market strategy is a tactical plan detailing how a company plans to execute a successful product release and...

Greenfield Project

A greenfield project can describe any project that a team starts from scratch. Learn the pros and common pitfalls of a greenfield project.

Group Product Manager

What Is a Group Product Manager? A group product manager (GPM) is a product leader who manages the product team responsible for a particular...

Growth Product Manager

Learn what growth product managers do, how they are centric to product-led growth and what success looks like for a growth product manager.

HEART Framework

The HEART framework is a methodology to improve the user experience (UX) of software. The framework helps a company evaluate any aspect of its...

Hook Model

What is the Hook Model? The Hook Model is a four-phase process that businesses can use to create products or services used habitually by...

ICE Scoring Model

The ICE Scoring Model is a relatively quick way to assign a numerical value to different potential projects or ideas to prioritize them based...

Idea Backlog

An idea backlog is a list of ideas that need more discussion or vetting before a product team can decide whether to move forward...

Idea Management

What is Idea Management? Idea management is a structured approach to generating and evaluating ideas that could help improve an organization’s bottom line. In...

Ideation

What is ideation? Ideation is an intentional exercise to generate a high volume of ideas for a business’s products, services, and customer experience. Unlike...

Impact Mapping

Impact Mapping is a graphic strategy planning method to decide which features to build into a product. As it begins with the intended goal...

Implicit Requirements

Implicit requirements are features and characteristics of the product experience that customers will expect. This post discusses examples of implicit requirements and how they...

Incident Management Practice

What is incident management practice? Incident management practice is the process of identifying and resolving unplanned incidents (often referred to as major incidents by...

Incremental Innovation

What Is Incremental Innovation? Incremental innovation refers to a series of small-scale improvements made to an existing product or service to add or sustain...

Information Flows in Product Management

Information flows in product management is a two-step process for creating a shared understanding of product strategy.

Information Technology

What is information technology? Information technology (IT) is the hardware and software used to create, store, transmit, manipulate, and display information and data. Metaphorically,...

Innovation Management

What is innovation management? There are many definitions of innovation management. At its core, innovation management is the process of putting something new into...

Intuitive Design

Intuitive design refers to making products easy to use. In this post, we’ll discuss why intuitive design is important and how to do it.

IoT (Internet of Things) Product Manager

IoT (internet of things) product managers are product professionals who are responsible for products that connect to the internet. The role is in a...

IT Project Manager

What Is an IT Project Manager? An IT project manager oversees complex projects involving a company’s IT infrastructure. Examples include installing computer hardware, setting...

Iteration

What is an iteration? An iteration is a set amount of time (typically 1-2 weeks) reserved for development in agile software development.

Iterative Testing

Learn the definition and best practices of iterative testing. Discover the 6 reasons product managers need to conduct iterative testing.

Jira

What Is Jira? Jira is a software application developed by the Australian software company Atlassian that allows teams to track issues, manage projects, and...

Jobs-To-Be-Done Framework

The jobs-to-be-done framework is an approach to developing products based on understanding both the customer’s specific goal, or “job,” and the thought processes that...

Kanban Board

A kanban board is a type of workflow that is commonly used to manage initiatives in project management. Kanban boards can be found in...

Kanban Roadmap

What is a Kanban Roadmap? Learn how a Kanban roadmap can help product managers leverage the Kanban methodology in their strategic planning.

Kano Model

The Kano Model is one of many prioritization frameworks designed to help product teams prioritize initiatives. Kano can help teams determine which features will...

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are quantitative metrics organizations use to analyze and track progress toward business objectives.

Lead Product Manager

What Is a Lead Product Manager? A lead product manager is a position that has different responsibilities in different companies. Three of the most...

Lean Software Development

What is Lean Software Development (LSD)? Lean Software Development (LSD) is an agile framework based on optimizing development time and resources, eliminating waste, and...

LeSS (Large Scale Scrum)

Large scale Scrum (LeSS) is a scaled-up version of the traditional, one-team Scrum. LeSS uses many principles of the Scrum agile framework but with...

Lifetime Value (LTV)

Lifetime Value (LTV) is an estimate of how much revenue an account will bring in over its lifetime. LTV, when used alongside an efficiency...

Market Requirements Document (MRD)

A market requirements document, or an MRD, is a strategic document written by a product manager to help define the market’s requirements or demand...

Market Validation

What is Market Validation? Market validation is the process of presenting a concept for a product to its target market and learn from those...

Method of Procedure

What is a Method of Procedure? A method of procedure (MOP) is a step-by-step guideline for completing a project. Think of it as a...

Minimum Viable Experience (MVE)

What Is a Minimum Viable Experience (MVE)? In product management, “minimum viable” refers to something the team believes it can release to the market...

Minimum Viable Feature (MVF)

What is a minimum viable feature? Learn more about more product management terminology in our resources library.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

An MVP, or minimum viable product, represents the earliest stage in the product’s development cycle at which the company believes it has enough features...

Mockup

A mockup is a realistic visual representation of a product. In this post, we’ll discuss the role of mockups in product management and explain...

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) is a calculation of revenue generation by month and conveys an up-to-date measurement of financial health.

MoSCoW Prioritization

What is MoSCoW Prioritization? MoSCoW prioritization, also known as the MoSCoW method or MoSCoW analysis, is a popular prioritization technique for managing requirements. The...

Needfinding

Needfinding is a unique research process that product teams use to identify a market need before building a product. In this post, we’ll discuss...

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

What is a Net Promoter Score? A net promoter score is a method of using a single survey question to gauge customer satisfaction with...

Objectives and Key Results

What are Objectives and Key Results? OKRs are a management strategy that sets up business objectives and measurable outcomes for alignment.

Opportunity Scoring

Opportunity scoring is one of several popular strategies for prioritizing features on a product roadmap. Product teams use this strategy when they want to...

Opportunity Solution Tree

What is an Opportunity Solution Tree? An Opportunity Solution Tree (OST) is a visual aid that helps enable the product discovery process through the...

Pair Programming

Pair programming is an agile software development practice in which two programmers team up at one workstation to maximize efficiency. With pair programming, one...

Pair Programming

What Is Pair Programming? Pair programming is a practice in agile software development where two programmers share a workstation. This includes a single computer....

PDCA Cycle

What Is the PDCA Cycle? The PDCA cycle is a project management framework that businesses can use to implement incremental change. PDCA stands for...

Pendo

What Is Pendo? Pendo is a product-analytics app built to help software companies develop products that resonate with customers. The app allows software makers...

Persona

In product management, a persona is a profile of a product’s typical user. Personas are used to help a product manager (and others in...

PERT Chart

What Is a PERT Chart? A PERT chart is a visual project management tool used to map out and track the tasks and timelines....

Pivot

What is a product pivot? Learn more about product pivots and other product management terminology in our resources library.

Planning Poker

Planning poker (also called Scrum poker) helps agile teams estimate the time and effort needed to complete each initiative on their product backlog.

Platform Product Manager

What is a Platform Product Manager? A Platform Product Manager (PM), is one of the most challenging roles in product management. They are responsible...

Prioritization

Prioritization is the process by which a set of items are ranked in order of importance. In product management, initiatives that live in the...

Product Adoption

What is Product Adoption? Learn more about product adoption and other product management terminology in our resources library.

Product Analytics

What are Product Analytics? The term product analytics refers to capturing and analyzing quantitative data through embedded tools that record how users interact with...

Product Architecture

What is Product Architecture? Product architecture is the organization (or chunking) of a product’s functional elements. It’s the ways these elements, or chunks, interact....

Product Backlog

What is a product backlog? It lists and prioritizes task-level details required to execute the strategic plan detailed on a product roadmap.

Product Brief

A product brief is an effective tool for product development. Read more to learn how how to write a successful product brief.

Product-Centric

Product-centric describes a company focused on the details of its products above other considerations, including its customers’ needs.

Product Consolidation

What is product consolidation and how can it affect your team? Learn how product consolidation can create a better user experience.

Product Council

A product council is a group of stakeholders that meets regularly to review the strategy and progress of a product.

Product Critique

What is a Product Critique A product critique objectively analyzes a product’s functionality, design, and user experience. A product critique aims to understand if...

Product Design

What is Product Design? Product design describes the process of imagining, creating, and iterating products that solve users’ problems.

Product Designer

A product designer is responsible for the user experience of a product, usually taking direction on the business goals and objectives from product management....

Product Development Cycle

What Is the Product Development Cycle? The product development cycle is the process of taking a product from an idea through its market release...

Product Development Manager

What is a Product Development Manager? A Product Development Manager (PDM)—often a software engineer, QA tester, or UX designer—is responsible for identifying new opportunities...

Product Development Process

What Is the Product Development Process? The product development process encompasses all steps needed to take a product from concept to market availability. This...

Product Differentiation

What is Product Differentiation? Product differentiation is a process used by businesses to distinguish a product or service from other similar ones available in...

Product Discovery

What is Product Discovery? The product discovery process has two distinct parts. It includes developing a profound understanding of customers, then using that knowledge...

Product Disruptor

What is a Product Disruptor? A product disruptor is an innovation that represents a change in a product’s direction, business model, or value proposition....

Product Enablement

What is Product Enablement? Product enablement helps employees at large companies gain relevant product knowledge. The term takes its name from sales enablement, the...

Product Excellence

Product excellence is a customer-focused framework for developing a significant products or features and getting it to market quickly.

Product Launch

What is a Product Launch? A product launch refers to a business’s planned and coordinated effort to debut a new product to the market...

Product Launch Management

What is Product Launch Management? Product launch management is the process of coordinating all strategic efforts needed for a successful market release. Product launch...

Product Launch Manager

What is a Product Launch Manager? A product launch manager coordinates all efforts across the company related to releasing new products to the market....

Product Launch Timeline

Product launch timelines visually represent the project plan to successfully release new products. The goal of the timeline is to ensure a successful product...

Product Leadership

What Is Product Leadership? Product leadership can describe several management-level roles with responsibility for the success of the company’s products. The purpose of a...

Product-Led Growth

What Is Product-Led Growth? Product-led growth is a business strategy in which a company uses its product as the main tool to acquire customers....

Product Life Cycle

The product lifecycle model breaks down the various stages of a product’s evolution, from its debut to its retirement. Each phase comes with its...

Product Management Audit

What is a product management audit? Learn more about the purpose of a product management audit and how to conduct your own

Product Management Talent

Product leaders are responsible for discovering and recruiting the right people for the product team. To do so, they need to seek out product...

Product Manager

A product manager drives the development of products, and is ultimately responsible for the success of those products. Product managers are information gatherers, defining...

Product-Market Fit

Product-market fit describes a scenario in which a company's target customers are buying, using, and telling others about the company's product in numbers large...

Product Marketing Manager

A product marketing manager’s (PMM) primary responsibility is to communicate the product’s value to the market. A PMM’s responsibilities could include training the sales...

Product Metrics

What Are Product Metrics? Product metrics, sometimes called key performance indicators, are quantifiable data points that an organization tracks and analyzes to gauge a...

Product Mission

A product's mission plays a key role in distilling the "why" of a product. Here are 10 steps to craft your mission.

Product Mix Strategy

What is a Product Mix Strategy? A successful product mix strategy enables a company to focus efforts and resources on the products and product...

Product Ops

Product ops, or product operations, is a relatively new discipline somewhat similar to marketing ops. Product ops builds a foundation for excellence by reinforcing...

Product Optimization

What is product optimization? Product optimization is the process of refining a product to make it more valuable to current users.

Product Owner

The product owner bridges the gap between product strategy and development. They are usually responsible for the product backlog, organizing sprints, and are expected...

Product Portfolio Management

Product portfolio management refers to the practice of managing an organization’s entire product portfolio, which consists of all the products the organization has. A...

Product Portfolio Manager

What Is a Product Portfolio Manager? A product portfolio manager (PPM) strategically oversees all of the products in a business’s portfolio and ensures alignment...

Product Positioning

What Is Product Positioning? Product positioning is the process of deciding and communicating how you want your market to think and feel about your...

Product Process Matrix

What is the Product Process Matrix? The product process matrix merges the product lifecycle, which encompasses all aspects of the product development process—from ideation...

Product Profitability

Product profitability refers to how much money a product makes minus what it costs to build, sell, and support it.

Product Requirements Document

A product requirements document (PRD) is an artifact used in the product development process to communicate what capabilities must be included in a product...

Product Requirements Management

Product requirements management is the ongoing process of overseeing the requirements needed to deliver a product to the market.

Product Sense

What is product sense? Learn more about product sense and other product management terminology in our resource library!

Product Specs

What Is a Product Specification? A Product Specification, commonly referred to as a product spec, is an important product document that outlines key requirements...

Product Stack

What is a Product Stack? A product stack refers to the apps, technologies, and other resources product managers use to bring their products to...

Product Strategist

A Product Strategist identifies new opportunities, assesses the company’s product performance, and helps develop its long-term strategic plans for future product lines. This distinguishes...

Product Strategy

What is a Product Strategy? A product strategy is a high-level plan describing what a business hopes to accomplish with its product and how...

Product Strategy Framework

A product strategy framework is a high-level plan of what a product team hopes to accomplish in a given timeframe.

Product Tree

What is product tree prioritization? Learn more about product tree prioritization, its benefits, and other product management terminology in our resources library.

Product Vision

A product vision, or product vision statement, describes the overarching long-term mission of your product. Vision statements are aspirational and communicate concisely where the...

Product Vulnerability

What is Product Vulnerability? A product vulnerability also referred to as a security vulnerability, is defined as an exploitable glitch, weakness, or flaw found...

Program Management

What is Program Management? Program Management is an organizational function that oversees a group of individual projects linked together through a shared organizational goal...

Program Manager

A program manager coordinates the interdependencies among projects, products, and other important strategic initiatives across an organization. This role requires one to focus closely...

Project Manager

A project manager oversees many of the logistical aspects of the product development process. They differ from product managers in that they oversee the...

Project Roadmap

Project roadmaps provide a strategic overview of the major elements of a project. A project roadmap should include a project’s objectives, milestones, deliverables, resources,...

Product

What is the Definition of Product? Ask a few people that question, and their specific answers will vary, but they’ll all probably describe it...

Quality Assurance

What is quality assurance vs. quality control? Learn how QA helps a business ensure its products meet the standards set by the company.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

Quality Function Deployment, or QFD, is a model for product development and production popularized in Japan in the 1960's. The model aids in translating...

Rapid Application Development (RAD)

What is Rapid Application Development (RAD)? Rapid Application Development is an agile framework focused primarily on rapid prototyping of software products, frequently iterating based...

Rapid Experimentation

Rapid experimentation is an agile approach to the product development process. With this approach, frequent experiments are deployed in an attempt to discover new,...

Rapid Prototyping

Rapid prototyping is an agile strategy used throughout the product development process. With this approach, 3-dimensional prototypes of a product or feature are created...

Rational Product Management

What is Rational Product Management? Rational product management is a unifying process for product development. Based on the rational development process used by the...

Refactoring

Refactoring is the process by which development teams clean up a codebase or change the internal structure of a piece of software to improve...

Release Demo

What is a Release Demo? Definition: A release demo is typically given by agile teams at the end of a sprint. These demos are...

Release Management

What Is Release Management? Release management is one of those modern business terms that has several meanings. For IT departments, the term describes overseeing...

Release Notes

What Is a Release Note? A release note refers to the technical documentation produced and distributed alongside the launch of a new software product...

Release Plan

What is a Release Plan? Definition: A release plan is a tactical document designed to capture and track the features planned for an upcoming...

Retention

What Is Retention? Customer retention refers to a company’s or product’s ability to retain customers over time. If a company or product has high...

Retention Rate

Why is the retention rate so important? It is used to determine the percentage of customers who continue paying for a product over time.

Retrospective

A retrospective is a meeting held after a product ships to discuss what happened during the product development and release process, with the goal...

RICE Scoring Model

The RICE scoring model is a framework designed to help product managers determine which products, features, and other initiatives to prioritize on their roadmaps...

Roadmap

What is a Roadmap? Definition: A roadmap is a high-level strategic document that is created and maintained to communicate the strategic vision and objectives...

Roadmap Milestones

Roadmap milestones are dates signaling events or deadlines the team needs to be aware of. Learn our two recommended roadmap milestones tips.

Roadmap Revolution

What is the Roadmap Revolution? A roadmap revolution is a complete re-evaluation of a product roadmap, commonly conducted at the beginning of the year....

Roadmapping Tool

What Is a Roadmapping Tool? A roadmap is a strategic blueprint that captures and communicates the basic plan and goals for a project. A...

Scaled Agile Framework

What is the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)? The Scaled Agile Framework, or SAFe, is an agile framework developed for development teams. Most importantly, SAFE’s...

Scope Creep

What is Scope Creep? Scope creep is the phenomenon in which a team’s initial plan—the scope of work it agreed to complete—slowly grows to...

Scrum Agile Framework

What is Scrum Agile Framework? In an agile context, Scrum is an approach to project management. Typically the Scrum agile framework favors moving projects...

Scrum Master

A scrum master is a facilitator for an agile team working under the scrum methodology. The scrum master serves as a point person responsible...

Scrum Meeting

What Is a Scrum Meeting? Scrum is an agile framework that teams use to produce products faster by breaking large development projects into smaller...

Scrumban

What Is Scrumban? Scrumban is a project management framework that combines important features of two popular agile methodologies: Scrum and Kanban. The Scrumban framework...

Shadow IT

What is Shadow IT? Shadow IT is a catch-all for any technology used within a corporate environment. The use of the technology typically outside...

Shape Up Method

What is the Shape Up Method? The Shape Up Method describes the specific processes used by product development teams to shape, bet, and build...

Shipyard Engine

What is a Shipyard Engine? A shipyard engine describes a product team’s process to keep its organization informed about the frequent updates the team...

SMART Goal Setting

What is SMART goal setting? The SMART framework provides the framework for setting clear, attainable goals in project management. The acronym stands for Specific,...

Sprint

What is an Agile Sprint? In agile methodology, a sprint is a period (e.g., 14 days) in which an agreed-upon set of development tasks...

Sprint Backlog

What is a Sprint Backlog? A sprint backlog is the set of items that a cross-functional product team selects from its product backlog to...

Sprint Goal

What is a sprint goal? Learn how sprint goals play a role in the product development process and discover related topics in our glossary.

Sprint Planning

What is Sprint Planning? In the Scrum agile framework, a sprint planning meeting is an event that establishes the product development goal and plan...

Stakeholder

What are Stakeholders? Stakeholders are individuals (or groups) that can either impact the success and execution or are impacted by a product. The first...

Stakeholder Analysis

A stakeholder analysis is the process of identifying stakeholders before a project begins; grouping them according to their levels of participation, interest, and influence...

Stakeholder Management

Stakeholder management refers to identifying, prioritizing, and engaging stakeholders throughout the product development process.

Standup

What is a Standup? A daily standup is a quick session where each member of the team shares what they accomplished yesterday, what they’ll...

Story Mapping

What is Story Mapping? Story mapping is a method for arranging user stories to create a more holistic view of how they fit into...

Story Point

What is a Story Point? A story point is a unit of measurement used by development teams to estimate the amount of effort required...

Story Points

Learn how story points can help teams create a shared understanding about the overall effort each task will take.

Sunk Cost

A sunk cost is an investment that can’t be recovered. Examples of sunk costs in business include marketing, research, new software installation or equipment,...

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is a planning framework that a business can use to identify a strategic endeavor’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The term...

The 4 Ds of Time Management

What are the 4 Ds of Time Management? The 4 Ds of time management, sometimes referred to as the 4 Ds of productivity, is...

Technical Debt

Technical debt describes what results when development teams take actions to expedite the delivery of a piece of functionality or a project which later...

Technical Product Manager

A technical product manager (PM) is a product manager with a strong technical background that is typically focused on the more technical aspects of...

The User Is Drunk

What Is “The User Is Drunk”? “The User is Drunk” is a product management and UX design concept that emphasizes designing products or websites...

Theme

What Is a Theme? In product management, a theme is a high-level goal or plan for the product. The theme sits at the top...

Timeline Roadmap

What Is a Timeline Roadmap? A timeline roadmap serves several strategic purposes. First, it communicates the priority order of a team’s initiatives based on...

Top-Down Product Strategy

What is a Top-Down Product Strategy? Definition: A top-down product strategy is one where high-level objectives and a long-term vision are defined first and...

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

Total Addressable Market (TAM) refers to the maximum size of the opportunity for a particular product or solution.

Tribe Model Management

What is Tribe Model Management? Tribe model management is part of an agile scaling strategy first used to help Spotify’s growing development department. The...

Turnover Rate

What Does Turnover Rate Mean? For a product or marketing team, turnover rate refers to the percentage of customers lost over a period of...

Unique Selling Proposition

A product’s unique selling proposition (USP), is its unique competitive advantage, or the reason a customer would select the product over any other option....

Usability Testing

Usability testing refers to a technique to evaluate the difficulting of finding a company's product. Learn the 7 steps of usability testing.

Use Case

What is a Use Case? Definition: A use case is a hypothetical (but plausible) scenario showing how a product’s user might interact with the...

User Experience

User Experience refers to the feeling users experience when using a product, application, system, or service. It is a broad term which can cover...

User Flow

What Is a User Flow? A user flow is a chart or diagram showing the path a user will take in an application to...

User Interface

A user interface, or UI, is any part of a product or system which the end user interacts with. Users work within a user...

User Persona

A user persona is a composite biography (or series of biographies) drafted based on market research and experience to describe the relevant characteristics, needs,...

User Research

User research is the discipline of learning about users’ needs and thought processes by studying how they perform tasks, observing how they interact with...

User Story

A user story is a small, self-contained unit of development work designed to accomplish a specific goal within a product. A user story is...

UX Designer

The primary focus of a UX designer (short for User Experience Designer) is on overall user satisfaction and usability with a product. UX designers...

Value Proposition

What is a Value Proposition? A value proposition is a statement that identifies measurable benefits prospective customers can expect when buying a product or...

Value vs. Complexity

Value vs. complexity is a prioritization framework that allows a product team to evaluate each initiative according to how much value the initiative will...

Vanity Metrics

What Are Vanity Metrics? Vanity metrics are statistics that look spectacular on the surface but don’t necessarily translate to any meaningful business results. Examples...

Velocity

What is velocity in product management? Discover the definition and when agile development teams use velocity in their sprint cycles.

Voice of Customer (VoC)

Voice of the customer, or VoC, is the research and analytics that capture customers’ needs, wants, expectations, preferences, and dislikes. It can also refer...

What is a Backlog

A backlog is a list of task-level details required to execute on a larger strategic plan. A quick glance at a prioritized backlog conveys...

What Is a Product Engagement Score?

What is a product engagement score (PES)? It measures how a user interacts with your product and helps define the customer experience.

What Is a Product Operating Model?

Product operating models help teams deliver the greatest value to customers, by centering it around the product's functions and operations.

Waterfall

What Is the Waterfall Method? Waterfall is a long-term product development method characterized by linear sequential phases for planning, building, and delivering new features...

Weighted Scoring

Weighted scoring prioritization uses numerical scoring to rank your strategic initiatives against benefit and cost categories. It is useful for product teams looking for...

Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)

What is Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)? Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) is a tool used in the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) to help...

What Is a Product Operating Model?

What is a product operating model? Learn more about the product operating model and other product management terminology in our resource library.

Wireframe

What Is a Wireframe? A wireframe is a basic, two-dimensional visual representation of a web page, app interface, or product layout. You can think...

Working Backwards (the Amazon Method)

The Amazon working backward method is a product development approach that starts with the team imagining the product is ready to ship.