Glossary
Check out our glossary of common product management, product marketing, and agile development terms and definitions.
A
A Product in Product Management
A product in product management is the result of work produced by a management team. It offers clients an innovative item or service with unique features. A product can be organized into different categories depending on its functions and purpose.
A/B Test
An A/B test is an essential comparative process used to identify which version of two items is most effective, such as PPC ads, landing pages, and more.
AARRR Framework
AARRR stands for Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral and Revenue. Bringing these metrics together in the AARRR framework helps start-ups to grow and scale.
API
API is an initialism for application programming interface. An API allows two different applications to speak to each other, by acting as a software intermediary that can both send and receive information.
Acceptance Criteria
Acceptance criteria are a set of targets that must be met in order to successfully finalize and complete the user story.
Acceptance Test
An acceptance test is conducted by the customer or the end-user to evaluate if a software solution meets requirements.
Acceptance test-driven development (ATDD)
Acceptance test-driven development (ATDD) is a testing methodology that defines the acceptable behavior of a digital product before it is developed.
Action Priority Matrix
The Action Priority Matrix is a diagrammatic framework which helps product managers to prioritize their tasks and make the best use of their limited time. It does this by plotting the impact of a task against the effort it requires.
Adaptive Software Development (ASD)
Adaptive software development embodies the principle that continuous adaptation of the process to the work at hand is the normal way to work.
Affinity Diagram
An affinity diagram is an organizational tool used to consolidate large volumes of information or data according to their similarities, or affinities.
Affinity Grouping
Affinity Grouping is a collaborative tool used for gathering qualitative data and sorting it based on shared themes. The process also involves prioritizing the groups formed and agreeing on actions that should be taken based on the results.
Agile
The Agile methodology is a set of values and principles, promoting iterative ways of working, where teams progress in “sprints”. This enables more effective prioritization and, if done well, also increases user satisfaction.
Agile Framework
Agile Frameworks are the different variations and approaches used by development teams based on the values and principles of the Agile Manifesto.
Agile Manifesto
The Agile Manifesto is a document setting out the key values and principles behind the Agile philosophy, helping software developers work more efficiently and effectively.
Agile Principles
There are 12 agile principles included in The Agile Manifesto, originated by software developers to prioritize individual interactions, customer collaboration, and flexibility.
Agile Product Management
Agile product management is a style of project management that involves incremental progress and adaptive strategies. It allows the vision for a product to evolve as the product is developed and launched.
Agile Product Owner
An Agile Product Owner is vital for steering a product’s development in the right direction and helping teams complete tasks successfully. They work to keep a product in line with the company’s best interests and stakeholder expectations.
Agile Transformation
With agile transformation, an organization restructures and redefines itself to align with the agile methodology, affecting the business as a whole.
Agile Values
The Agile Values are the four core values of the Agile Manifesto, a guide designed to help software development teams work more efficiently and collaboratively.
B
Back End (In a Website)
The back end of a website is everything that goes on behind the scenes, from servers to databases — and much more.
Backlog
A backlog is a prioritized list of all smaller tasks to be completed for a larger development project. It usually includes user stories, bug fixes, and product updates.
Backlog Grooming
Backlog grooming gives product teams the opportunity to review and prioritize their outstanding user stories, typically in preparation for the next sprint.
Baseline
A Baseline is a fixed point of comparison in the timeline of a project, budget, or development process which is used to evaluate progress, improvement, or change over time.
Behavior-Driven Development
Behavior-driven development (BDD) is a strategy allowing product managers, developers, and testers to collaborate on testing software’s acceptable behavior.
Behavioral Product Management (BPM)
The application of the study of human psychology to product design.
Benchmark
Benchmarking can help businesses compare their operations and strategies against those of other entities, and improve based on the insights gained.
Beta Test
A limited release of software or an application to assess it for bugs and other issues before it is released generally.
Bill of Materials (BOM)
A bill of materials is an exhaustive list of the components, parts, and raw materials required for manufacturing a product.
Brand Equity
Brand equity is the value of a brand in the eyes of the customer. A brand can have a positive or negative brand equity depending on how it is perceived, and this can have a positive or negative impact on a business’s commercial value.
Brand Extension Strategy
A brand extension strategy is the use of one’s current brand name and brand recognition to enter into a new product class.
Brand Recognition
Brand recognition is the degree to which a company’s brand is familiar, liked, and trusted by consumers. Good brand recognition offers many advantages to companies including helping to build and maintain healthy market share and profitability.
Break-even Point
A Break-Even Point is the point at which total revenue matches the total cost for a particular venture. At the Break-Even Point, an organization has recouped its costs but not yet made any profit.
Bubble Sort
Bubble sort is a beginner's algorithm in programming that can be used throughout your career. It sorts data from high to low (or low to high) by comparing each element to the one that comes after it.
Bucket Sort
Bucket Sort is a sorting algorithm that separates elements in a dataset into different buckets (also known as categories or bins). The buckets are then sorted individually and recombined to produce the final, sorted dataset.
Bugs
Bugs are issues that disrupt a software’s performance, in one or more ways. Bugs may be small enough to go unnoticed until a product hits the market, or big enough to render software unusable.
Burndown Chart
A burndown chart is a visual representation of the amount of work that has been completed and outstanding work in a sprint.
Business Agility
Business agility takes the principles of agile development and uses them across an entire organization, increasing adaptability to market changes, challenge or opportunities. An agile business also fosters greater creativity, innovation, and collaboration.
Business Intelligence (BI)
Business Intelligence refers to the uncovering, interpreting and application of relevant data and information to help businesses make better decisions.
Business Model Canvas
A short summary containing strategic details of the requirements to get a product to the marketplace.
Business Plan
A business plan is a strategic document which details the business model and key tactics for a growing business or startup. It is especially important during the tricky first few years, or whilst seeking external investment.
Business Transformation
Business transformation is the process of redesigning, restructuring, or expanding a business to adapt to relevant internal or external changes.
Business-to-Business (B2B)
Business to business is a transactional model that describes companies who sell products or services to other companies.
Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
Business-to-consumer is the most popular commerce model in the business world. It is used to refer to companies that sell products or services directly to individual consumers.
C
CAD/CAE
CAD and CAE are types of engineering apps that make it possible for engineers and designers to work in a digital, 3D environment.
CIO vs CTO
A CIO or Chief Information Officer is internally focused on the company and technology infrastructure, whereas a CTO or Chief Technology Officer is externally focused on customers and technical products.
CIRCLES method
The CIRCLES method is the framework used by product managers to answer design questions. It also acts as a checklist to help product managers consider user needs.
CRC cards
CRC cards are visual tools used to brainstorm and better understand the role a software product can play for a certain group (“class”) and how it can allow them to perform jobs (“responsibilities”) with other members of their team (“collaborators”)
Cannibalization
Product cannibalization is when a company has several products that compete with one another within the same market.
Captive Product Pricing
When pricing captive products, businesses usually follow a twofold strategy that combines a lower price for the core product with a higher price for accessories or replaceable items.
Card, conversation, and confirmation (3 C's)
Product teams can use the 3 C’s framework to better manage and resolve user stories following the steps ‘Card’, ‘Conversation’, and ‘Confirmation’.
Cash Flow
Cash flow shows how much cash is moving in and out of your business every month. As they say: “Cash is King”. So being aware of your cash flow is crucial to the running of a successful business.
Cash Flow Budget
Often referred to as a cash budget or a cash flow, the cash flow budget allows a company to keep on top of cash income and outgoings over time.
Change Management
A methodical approach to aiding staff covert from one system or process to another.
Channels of Distribution
Channels of Distribution (or a distribution channel) are channels of businesses or intermediaries which a product or service travels through before reaching the final customer.
Chief Product Officer in Business
In business, Chief Product Officer, or CPO, is the title given to the executive team member who is responsible for leading the entire product organization.
Churn
Churn is the percentage of customers that stop using your business during a given time frame.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Click-through rate is the percentage of an advert or listing impressions that result in a user clicking through to the site.
Co-branding
Co-branding is a form of partnership, where two companies or brands share their brand names, logos, etc., on one project, one product, or one piece of software.
Competitive Advantage
Competitive advantage is what makes a customer choose your business over another one. By understanding, and promoting, a competitive advantage, companies can win a greater amount of market share.
Competitive Analysis
Competitive analysis is the process of identifying competitors and evaluating their strategies in order to determine their weaknesses and strengths.
Competitive Differentiation
Competitive differentiation refers to how a company’s offering is distinct from its competitors’. It is based on aspects such as, but not limited to, an offering’s functionality, branding, and pricing.
Competitive Landscape
The competitive landscape is a valuable marketing tool that represents the current market for your product or service.
Competitive Matrix
A competitive matrix is a visual representation of your company’s competitive analysis data.
Concept Review
A concept review is a discussion where you evaluate different or competing concepts and decide which ones you're going to invest in and see through to completion.
Content Marketing Roadmap
A content marketing roadmap is a tool that integrates your content plan across departments and employees, allowing you to track progress, assign tasks, and set deadlines for various projects and tasks.
Continuous Delivery (CD)
Continuous Delivery (CD) is defined as the ability to deliver product updates to customers as quickly and frequently as possible.
Continuous Deployment
Continuous deployment is an agile production method, designed to fast-track products to market.
Continuous Improvement
Continuous Improvement — sometimes referred to as ‘Kaizen’ — is an ongoing effort to improve products or processes. It relies on a culture where all employees identify opportunities for enhancements and wastage reduction.
Continuous Integration (CI)
Continuous integration is an engineering process where code is subjected to automated testing, several times a day, to identify bugs or errors.
Convergent Thinking
Convergent Thinking is the process of choosing the most logical or “correct” solution to a problem.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate refers to the percentage of website visitors that complete a specific action.
Cost Of Goods Sold (COGS)
The Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) is how much it costs to produce a finished product for the market. Put simply: it is the cost of making the goods a company sells, including the cost of materials, production time and labor.
Cost of Delay (CoD)
The Cost of Delay is a prioritization framework that helps product managers make informed decisions by weighing in the monetary implications of being late to market.
Cost of Sales
Cost of sales (also known as cost of goods sold) refers to the cost required to manufacture or purchase a product that is then sold to a customer.
Creative brief
A creative brief is a document that outlines the requirements, scope, approach, and delivery of a particular product, campaign, or project. Its goal is to align all stakeholders before the design or development process begins.
Critical Path Method (CPM)
The critical path method is a modeling algorithm designed to help product managers escape inefficient scheduling and gain a clear overview of all tasks at hand.
Cross-functional Team
A cross-functional team unites people with diverse skills from across a company, specializing in different functional areas such as design or product management.
Crystal Agile Framework
Crystal is an agile methodology for software development. It focuses on people and communications over processes and tools and is uniquely flexible around team types, criticality and project priority.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is a metric used to convey how much money a business needs to spend to win a new customer.
Customer Advisory Board (CAB)
A customer advisory board is a group of customers brought together by a business to provide expert advice and share insights about its products and services.
Customer Development
A framework that assesses whether or not the product fulfills the customer’s needs.
Customer Empathy
Customer empathy is the ability to see the world through your user’s eyes. This understanding helps you see where your product fits into their lifestyle, and where it can really add value.
Customer Journey Map
A customer journey map outlines each step, across all touchpoints, that a user takes to interact with or buy from your product, service or brand. Customer journey maps can increase empathy with users and reveal areas for added value.
Customer Requests
Customer requests are queries directly from customers about a product. They can include bug reports, product improvement requests, and new product feature requests.
D
DACI Decision-Making Framework
The DACI Decision-Making Framework is a model designed to make group decision making faster and more effective by assigning specific roles to team members. These roles establish clear responsibilities and help avoid unhealthy disagreements.
DEEP Backlog
A DEEP backlog is one possible outcome of a backlog grooming session. The acronym that describes effective backlogs, and stands for: Detailed Appropriately, Emergent, Estimates and Prioritized.
DSDM Agile Methodology
DSDM (Dynamic System Development Method) is an agile methodology based on 8 principles including focusing on the business need, building incrementally, and communicating continuously.
Data Product Manager
A data product manager is an emerging role in product development. A data PM is responsible for championing data-driven insights in design, and actively leveraging the flow of data, too.
Definition of Done
In reference to the Scrum agile framework, the definition of done (DoD) describes predefined demands a certain output must meet when being delivered. It is used to establish a common understanding on the product’s level of integrity to ensure quality.
Definition of Ready
In the Scrum agile framework, the definition of ready (DoR) marks the completeness of preliminary actions for a task or project to be processed.
Dependency
A dependency describes the relationship among activities and specifies the particular order in which they need to be performed.
Design Concept
A design concept establishes the core idea of driving the design and development of a product. It outlines what a product is, who it’s for, and how it works.
Design Ops
Design ops applies to the process of organizing and optimizing a design team’s workflow, structure, and processes to maximize its value to a company as a whole.
Design Thinking
Design Thinking is a user-centric approach to innovation and problem solving. Focused on empathizing with users, Design Thinking is concerned with developing meaningful products that keep users’ genuine wants and needs at heart.
DevOps
Principles used to transform a workforce mindset so that it can better communicate and collaborate in developing and releasing a product.
Differentiated Product
A differentiated product is a product that faces similar competing products with a similar target audience but manages to separate itself from its competitors in one way or another.
Digital Product Management
Digital product management is the process of bringing digital products from idea to market.
Digital Transformation
Digital transformation refers to the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business to redesign processes and products for the digital age.
Director of Product
As the name suggests, a Director of Product is the person who leads and oversees the complete product development lifecycle, guiding others and ensuring the product is delivered on-spec and on time.
Disciplined Agile (DA)
Disciplined Agile (DA) is a process decision toolkit, bringing together elements from Scrum, eXtreme Programming, Kanban and, of course, agile development. As such, DA helps teams streamline their internal processes and achieve greater business agility.
Disruptive Innovation
Disruptive Innovation refers to a product or solution that establishes a new market, business model, or industry (ultimately, “disrupting” those that already exist).
Distinctive Competence
Distinctive competencies give businesses an advantage by offering something no other business can.
Distribution Models
A distribution model shows how products go from manufacturer to retailers and include every step along that path.
Divergent Thinking
Divergent thinking, often referred to as lateral thinking, is the process of creating multiple, unique ideas or solutions to a problem that you are trying to solve.
E
Economies of Scale
Economies of scale are the potential cost savings that can be made by producing goods or services in higher volumes, spreading fixed costs over a great volume.
Edge Case
An edge case is a type of bug in software development that only occurs under uncommon circumstances. This means that most users won't encounter these types of bugs, which may change how a team approaches handling the bug.
Eisenhower Matrix
The Eisenhower Matrix is a productivity tool for organizing your tasks by urgency and importance. Created by President Dwight Eisenhower, it's a great way to better understand where your time is going versus where it should be going.
End-to-End
End-to-end has several definitions, but most simply refer to the entire product journey, from initial conception to market launch and beyond.
Engineering Backlog
An engineering backlog shows which work items are being completed by the engineering team in the current sprint.
Enterprise Architecture Planning (EAP)
Enterprise Architecture Planning (EAP) is a process by which organizations define how IT and information will be used in a business to achieve its goals.
Enterprise Architecture Roadmap
An enterprise architecture roadmap is a high-level overview of the direction a company's IT plans and projects will take over time.
Enterprise Feedback Management
What Is Enterprise Feedback Management? Definition and Examples
Enterprise Product
The term ‘enterprise product’ refers to a product (typically software) that is used by a large number of and/or a variety of different people with different needs. Keywords: what is an enterprise product
Enterprise Technology
Enterprise technology refers to any software or hardware used to perform or aid in completing tasks and workflows at a company. This includes familiar examples like accounting software and extends to more complex solutions like business intelligence.
Epic
An epic refers to a grouping of user stories (or development tasks) which together make it possible to achieve a product theme. The theme > epic > story structure is a popular method in agile development.
Epics in Agile and Scrum
An Epic is a collection of user stories that come together to create a deliverable that adds real value to the product, the business, and the users.
Evaluating Ideas and Opportunities
Evaluating ideas and opportunities is a crucial process to determine which business concepts have value — and which don’t.
F
Feature Flags
Used within software product development to change and deliver programming code.
Fatal 2% Rule
The Fatal 2% Rule states that if a company or venture can achieve 2% of total market share it will be successful, but failing to achieve 2% will be fatal.
Feature Audit
A feature audit provides businesses with a quick snapshot of their product's feature usage. Using a graph that plots customer activity on two axes, they outline how features are performing.
Feature Bloat
Feature bloat relates to products carrying excessive features, perhaps becoming overloaded to a point that core functions are impaired.
Feature Driven Development (FDD)
Feature Driven Development (FDD) is an iterative agile model used to incrementally develop features into a complete product. It focuses on building software by breaking it into small components, rapidly developed in repetitive cycles.
Feature Factory
A feature factory is a company that consistently comes out with new features for an existing product. This is a derogatory term, as it implies that the features are poorly implemented or simply not necessary, and only serve to prop up a mediocre product.
Feature Kickoff
A Feature Kickoff is a conference held right as a development team is about to start work on a new project. During this meeting, the project manager and stakeholders discuss expectations, goals, and requirements for the project.
Feature Request Management
Feature request management prioritizes customer feature requests to help businesses grow and improve products.
Feature-less Roadmap
A Feature-less Roadmap provides software development teams with a high-level view of the strategy behind the product they’re developing. It focuses on the “why” of a product as opposed to the “how”.
Features
Features are the defining attributes of a product that make it valuable to customers and distinguish it from the rest of the market.
Features, Advantages and Benefits (FAB) Analysis
A FAB analysis describes the features, advantages and benefits of a product, and how they work together to help differentiate a product within the market.
Fibonacci Agile Estimation
The Fibonacci Agile Estimation is a story-point method that helps agile teams estimate tasks to reach a consensus on time and resource allocation.
First Mover Advantage
First-Mover Advantage refers to the competitive edge a business earns by being the first to launch with a certain product or service.
First-mover Disadvantage
First-mover disadvantage refers to the challenges a business encounters by being the first to market with a new product or service.
Five Whys (5 Whys)
The Five Whys is a technique used to understand the root cause of problems, and identify counter-measures that prevent them happening again. It focuses on rectifying underlying issues rather than their symptoms.
Freemium
Freemium is a business model many SaaS companies leverage. They offer two core versions of a product: free and paid, though the latter may consist of multiple packages tailored to different users.
Front End (In a Website)
The front end of a website is everything the user either sees or interacts with when they visit the website. It is responsible for the look and feel of a website.
G
GIST Planning
This is a minimal product planning concept that stands for Goals, Ideas, Step-Projects, and Tasks.
Gantt Chart
A Gantt chart visually displays how tasks spread over a timeline. This technique helps project managers successfully plan, coordinate and track all resources and efforts related to a specific project.
Get Out of the Building
Instead of getting involved in sales or design, startups first need to “get out of the building” and meet potential customers to better understand their market.
Go-To-Market Strategy
A plan with details on how to successfully release and promote a product.
H
HEART Framework
The HEART framework is a methodology designed to improve and assess the user experience of software. It is an acronym based on five customer-centric metrics which help designers focus and direct development to ensure a great customer experience.
I
ICE Scoring Model
The ICE Scoring Model is an agile prioritization tool, assessing projects, ideas and features via three set measurements: Impact, Confidence and Ease
IT Product Management
In information technology, product management consists of defining, conceiving, delivering, refining, and monitoring products in a market to achieve maximum business results.
Idea Management
This is a mechanism within an organisation for harvesting and analysing concepts to potentially develop.
Ideas Versus Opportunities
Potential business opportunities are built on good ideas, but not all good ideas translate into valuable opportunities. Understanding this difference is key to making the right decisions.
Ideation
Ideation involves generating ideas through group brainstorming sessions, which may include sketching and roleplay.
Impact Mapping
A graphic or schematic method for planning which features will be incorporated into a product.
Implicit Requirements
Implicit requirements are those features of a product or app which are so fundamental that they don’t need to be explicitly specified during development.
Incremental Innovation
Incremental innovation is a practice of developing and releasing a series of low-risk, small upgrades for existing products or services.
Incremental Product
An Incremental Product is one which has been developed over time via a series of small upgrades or improvements. This process is known as incremental product innovation.
Information Flows in Product Management
In product management, info flow is the strategy of making sure that everyone working on a product is on the same page. PMs who use strong info flow tactics can avoid miscommunications, reduce emergency meetings, and ensure a smoother development process.
Information Radiator
An information radiator is a scrum artefact used to provide at-a-glance project information and keep the team’s primary goals and responsibilities top of mind (and always in sight!).
Innovation Roadmap
An innovation roadmap is designed to visualize the steps and goals required for a team to achieve an innovation project.
Internal Product Management
Internal product management involves various processes within the company. Employees of the company become the consumers of the internal product management. This process is designed to improve the company’s inside processes and increase the business value.
Intuitive
Intuitive design is that which is accessible, user friendly, familiar and — crucially — tailored to its core users. Research, data-driven design, and an in-depth understanding of user needs are key.
Issue Tracking
Issue tracking refers to any method used to identify problems with a software product and map the timeline of that issue's resolution.
J
Jira
Jira is a tool for agile project development. It comes with a range of features, including customer support ticketing, bug tracking, and task assignment and monitoring.
K
Kanban Board
A Kanban board is a visualization tool allowing teams to optimize their workflow, completing tasks with increased productivity and efficiency.
Kanban Roadmap
The term “Kanban roadmap” has recently gained popularity, but what does it actually mean, and do Kanban roadmaps exist at all?
L
LeSS (Large Scale Scrum)
LeSS (Large Scale Scrum) is an agile approach to software development that incorporates elements not found within the traditional Scrum framework. Put simply, LeSS applies Scrum principles on a larger scale.
M
Market Development Strategy
Market Development Strategy refers to a strategy in which companies introduce their product or solution to new audiences, outside of their current markets.
Market Penetration Strategy
Market penetration strategy is used by companies or organizations to launch or grow their presence and customer base within one of their already existing markets, or an existing market where a similar product or offer already exists.
Market Requirements Document (MRD)
This is a document that attempts to identify demand for a product.
Market Segmentation
A market segmentation breaks down a company’s target audience by certain attributes, to allow more targeted marketing and product development.
Market Share
Market share is the percentage of a certain market that an individual company’s sales are responsible for. Market share is used to give you an idea of how large, powerful or important your business is within its particular sector.
Market Validation
Market validation is the process of verifying a product of concept with a target market, usually via interviews.
Marketing Audit
A Marketing Audit takes a comprehensive look at all strategies, processes, and tools of an organization’s marketing environment, and helps to develop successful ways of working in the future.
Marketing Cost Analysis
A marketing cost analysis is a way of assessing the full costs associated with any new marketing campaign. It is designed to provide a comprehensive breakdown of all the costs associated with a new marketing campaign.
Marketing Mix
The marketing mix is an umbrella term for all of the tactics or actions a company can employ to drive sales and increase awareness of its brand.
Marketing Plan
A marketing plan is a document that defines a marketing strategy for a company in order to reach their targeted audience.
Method of Procedure (MOP)
Method of Procedure refers to a step-by-step project plan, guiding employees or teams to the completion of a specific task.
Mind Map
A mind map is a brainstorming tool which allows you to explore a central idea, and all of its related topics, in a non-linear way.
Minimum Viable Experience (MVE)
The term MVE: Minimum Viable Experience refers to how a customer feels when they interact with a brand’s MVP (Minimum Viable Product).
Minimum Viable Feature (MVF)
An aspect of a product that is experimental and includes the smallest possible attributes.
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Launching with a minimum viable product (MVP) allows teams to test a product’s core concept and functionality in a realistic setting, receiving user feedback and improving iteratively when needed.
Mission Statement
A mission statement is a clear definition of a business, its goals, its ethos, its reasons for being and its primary customers.
Mixpanel
Mixpanel is a popular SaaS tool used to monitor customer behavior. It offers high reliability and deep insights. Businesses can use Mixpanel to understand their customer engagement, track trends among their users, and optimize their marketing.
MoSCoW Prioritization
MoSCoW Prioritization is a method for organizing project requirements based on their priority level. “MoSCoW” is an acronym for Must-Have, Should-Have, Could-Have, and Won't-Have.
N
Needfinding
Needfinding is the process of discovery prior to product development. Developed by Robert McKim at Stanford University in the 1970s, it focuses on customer needs rather than customer wants.
O
OKR Roadmap
While OKRs and roadmaps share some common elements, they’re really quite different methods of tracking product development. But is there room for both?
Objectives and Key Results (OKR)
Objectives and Key Results, also known as OKR, is a goal-setting framework used in businesses to align individual performance with overall goals in a measurable way.
Operating Expenses
Operating expenses are costs that are incurred by the day-to-day operations of a business. For example, overheads (rent, utilities, office supplies) and payroll.
Operational Roadmap
An operational roadmap is a long-term plan that summarizes a team or department’s intended activities and operations.
Opportunity Cost
An opportunity cost is the inevitable loss of profit, growth or other value, which must be spent in order to focus on an activity. Despite its name, opportunity cost is not necessarily a bad thing.
Opportunity Scoring
Opportunity Scoring is a prioritization method, based on user-assigned importance and satisfaction ratings. Product teams can use opportunity scoring to refocus product roadmaps, improving the value of the product overall.
P
PERT chart
A PERT chart, short for Program Evaluation Review Technique, is a visual chart used to estimate the length of time it will take to complete a project.
Pageviews
Pageviews is the number of times an individual web page has been loaded or reloaded.
Pair Programming
Pair programming involves two programmers sharing a single workstation. One programmer focuses on coding, whilst the other reviews and assesses the work.
Payback Period
The payback period refers to the length of time a business expects to wait before the initial investments in a product or project are recovered.
Pendo
Pendo is a platform created for companies dealing with software development. It is designed to help them understand their customers more accurately.
Penetration Pricing Strategy
Penetration pricing refers to setting a low initial cost for a new product or service. Usually, this is done by businesses to gain market share quickly or get new customers to purchase.
Persona
A persona is an imaginary profile designed to represent the details of a set of end-users.
Personalization
Personalization is the act of tailoring a service or a product to accommodate a specific individual or group.
Pirate Metrics
Despite the comical name, Pirate Metrics can be a hugely useful framework for product teams. The AARRR acronym includes metrics across a range of essential KPIs and goals, including acquisition, retention, and referral.
Pivot
Pivot is a strategy that is used to redirect the business objective of a project or product.
Planning poker
Estimating how much time it will take to complete a cycle of development can be a challenge for agile managers and teams. Planning poker is a gamified tool designed to help — where the team works together to come to a consensus.
Platform Product Management
Platform product management is an essential component of the whole management system of any well-developing company.
Platform Product Manager
A Platform Product Manager is responsible for the management of not just a single application, but an entire platform. Examples of these platforms include operating systems, operating environments, and web services.
Pragmatic Marketing
Pragmatic marketing is a sophisticated product marketing and creation process that continually adapts based on customers' needs.
Price Elasticity of Demand
Price elasticity of demand relates to the way in which demand for a product changes based on price adjustments. Certain products are inelastic, as a change in price leads to little or no change in demand.
Prioritization
This is a process by which a set of tasks are assessed for the order in which they will be developed.
Priority Poker
Priority Poker / Planning Poker is a technique designed to help product teams prioritize their backlog in a way which is fair, democratic and a little gamified.
Product Analytics
Product analytics is essential for developing a comprehensive understanding of how users engage with products. This feedback is often more accurate than other forms of user input as it tracks actual user behavior rather than relying on qualitative remarks.
Product Architecture
A product architecture map uses basic geometric shapes to express the functionality of a product. This allows the developers and designers to hone in on the right functional choices without being too concerned about the aesthetics of the product.
Product Backlog
A product backlog is a list of all the tasks known to be needed in the product. It serves as an authoritative source for what the team should be working on right now.
Product Brief
A product brief is the first step towards building a high-quality product. It sets the course to success by aligning all product teams under a unified strategy.
Product Culture
Product culture refers to the philosophy behind a product’s development. Product culture covers concepts such as innovation, customer focus, and product management principles.
Product Description Sheet
A product description sheet defines the scope of a product in specific terms. The document is used during the planning phase to create a clear idea of what the final product should look like, and is then passed on to the development team for execution.
Product Design
Product design refers to the process of conceptualizing, creating, launching and improving upon a product that solves a user problem (while adding value to the business). Winter coats are an outcome of product design, as is the laptop computer.
Product Designer
A product designer (sometimes known as an experience designer, user interface designer, interaction designer, information architect, etc.) takes responsibility for a product’s overall user experience.
Product Development Lifecycle
The product development lifecycle is the series of stages that a product goes through, beginning with product development and ending with the obsoletion of that product.
Product Development Manager (Pdm)
A Product Development Manager (PDM) is responsible for researching, assessing, and coordinating the development of innovative and compelling new products. They also work on the development and improvement of existing products to better meet customer needs.
Product Development Process
A Product Development Process can be described as all of the stages that must be completed by a business in order to take a product from its idea germination through to the point at which it becomes available on the market.
Product Differentiation
Product differentiation is how a business distinguishes a service or product from others that are available in the same category.
Product Discovery
Product discovery is the customer-centric process of determining whether or not a product or feature should be developed. It requires in-depth customer knowledge, to identify and validate which user problem(s) a build could solve.
Product Disruptor
A product disruptor is an innovation that adds new value to a business, by future-proofing against market threats, competitor rivalry or customer behavior change.
Product Enablement
Product enablement increases awareness and understanding of a business’s product(s) across the entire organization, with the aim of making each and every employee higher performing.
Product Excellence
Product excellence refers to a framework for developing a product or feature based on a deep understanding of user needs. Product excellence enables businesses to innovate more efficiently, enabling them to get the right products to market quickly.
Product Goals
Product goals are the accomplishments you need to achieve to bring a vision from theory to reality.
Product Launch
A product launch describes the time a new product, good or service first hits the marketplace — and how it performs in the months that follow. Many teams will be involved in a successful product launch, including marketing, sales, finance, and development.
Product Leadership
Product leadership refers to a cross-departmental approach to making an organization’s products a success. It is not one singular role but a collection of responsibilities shared by department leads, managers, and even C-suite employees.
Product Levels
Product levels provide a way to visualize customers' needs about a particular product. They can be psychological needs or core needs.
Product Lifecycle
The product lifecycle is the journey each product takes from the inception of an idea all the way through to a product’s retirement.
Product Line
A product line represents the products that a company creates using a single brand. All products in a product line share traits and are designed for the same target market.
Product Management Audit
A comprehensive assessment concerning the processes and strategy of an organisation’s product management.
Product Management Talent
Product Management Talent refers to a selection of candidates who have the skills and qualifications required to be successful in a particular product role.
Product Management Tools
Every product team requires the right product management tools to do their job. Every individual product stack is different, but the specific tools product managers use during development are often common across all organizations.
Product Manager
A product manager is responsible for the success of a product. The product manager has profound knowledge on the developed product and everything that goes with it.
Product Marketer
A Product Marketer is a marketer who specializes in bringing products to market. This means that they manage a product’s conception, positioning, advertising, and eventual release to market.
Product Marketing Manager
This is the person who’s chief objective is to broadcast the value of the product to the market.
Product Mix
A product mix is the complete set of products or services offered by a business.
Product North Star
In product management, a product north star is a measure of how well the development team is solving customer problems in a way that supports the organization’s business goals.
Product Ops
Product ops, referring to product operations, supports a cross-functional product team to constantly ensure and improve their efficiency.
Product Organization
A product organization is a type of company structure in which a business is built around specific products, with dedicated teams, workflows, and objectives for each.
Product Owner (PO)
The product owner (PO) represents next to the ScrumMaster and the development team a key player in a Scrum team.
Product Planning
Product planning encompasses the internal processes that need to happen for a product to move through ideation, design, development, and deployment.
Product Portfolio Management
This refers to the strategic administration of all the products owned by the organization.
Product Positioning
Product positioning refers to the practice of presenting your product as unique in the marketplace and describing the benefits to your target audience. A product’s positioning will either attract target buyers or turn them away.
Product Principles
Product principles form the foundation for your products that helps guide development.
Product Process Matrix
The product-process matrix is a visual tool that helps product teams understand the relationship between their product and the steps of their product development process.
Product Requirements Document
A product requirements document (PRD) is a detailed outline of all functionalities a software product must fulfill when being delivered.
Product Requirements Management
Product requirements management refers to the process of collecting, analyzing, tracking, and prioritizing product requirements. These requirements are usually communicated later on to key stakeholders.
Product Roadmap
Product roadmaps the vision and strategic objectives for a product over time. They give development teams and stakeholders a ‘single source of truth’ that captures all the steps needed to deliver against objectives.
Product Spec
A product spec provides teams with critical information to guide them as they bring products to market, covering such contextual details as the target audience, user goals, and intended outcomes.
Product Stack
This refers to the tools that a product manager has at their disposal in order to get the product to the marketplace.
Product Strategy
A product strategy is your business’s goal(s) for a product and the in-depth process for achieving success
Product Tree
The Product Tree is a visual tool used by product managers to prioritize and manage product feature inputs from both customers and stakeholders.
Product Value
Product value is the core benefit a product delivers to its customers. It represents a product’s ability to meet customer needs and is a crucial driver for product design and pricing strategy.
Product Vision
A product vision aims to describe the future state of a product. It is the core essence of the product.Ideally, the product vision will serve as a guide for the stakeholders, as it will remind them of the general direction the product should be taking
Product-led Growth
Product-led growth is the secret behind some of the biggest names in SaaS and tech. Build your products for users first and sustainable growth will follow.
Product-market Fit
Product-market fit refers to the way in which a brand’s product is capable of satisfying the current market, by supplying enough units of a high-enough quality to meet demand.
Program Epic
A program epic is a work effort constrained to a single release train, delivered by multiple teams, and spanning multiple Program Increment (PI) iterations.
Program Management
The grouping together of multiple projects to meet a strategic objective.
Program Manager
A program manager’s essential objective is to reconcile multiple projects and teams by coordinating them and giving strategic guidance to the company’s project managers.
Project Manager
A project manager is responsible for the execution of a project from start to finish. A project manager is often the bridge between the team, deliverables and upper management.
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R&D: Research and Development
R&D (Research and Development) is the first stage of the product lifecycle. During this phase, a product team will conceptualize and assess the viability of a new product to decide whether it is worth taking to market.
RICE framework
The RICE framework is a simple framework that helps product managers prioritize and quantify the potential value of project ideas, initiatives, and features.
Rapid Application Development (RAD)
Rapid Application Development (RAD) is an adaptive software development approach where a software prototype is rapidly updated based on user feedback and iteratively delivered until it meets all client requirements.
Rapid Experimentation
Experiments are launched rapidly to discover new ideas. This allows product development teams to build less and learn more.
Rapid Prototyping
Rapid prototyping is a key part of product development, leveraging functional prototypes for in-depth testing of core design elements (size, function, etc.) and overall user experience.
Rational Product Management
Rational Product Management is a product-development approach based on the rational development method. It provides managers with a framework for planning, iterative development, and ongoing quality control, to maximize a product’s value.
Refactoring
Within the software, this is when code is cleaned, or internal structure altered, to make improvements.
Release Demo
A release demo shows the work, and the progress of a project, at the end of each iteration.
Release Notes
A report that is released with a new product, a new version of a product, or an update to a product.
Retention Rate
Retention rate is the number of customers that continue to pay for a subscription-based product over a particular period. A high retention rate indicates that your customers are getting value.
Retrospective
A retrospective is a team meeting held after a product has shipped. Its primary goal is to discuss what happened during the product development cycle, providing valuable lessons for the future.
Return Visitors
Return visitors are users who have visited a certain website before, in the last two years.
Return on Investment (ROI)
Return on Investment is a key business metric that measures the profitability of investments or marketing activities by weighing the size of the upfront cost against the net profits it produced.
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Strategic Marketing Management
Strategic marketing management is the process of implementing your business’ mission through specific and strategic processes in order to maximize on your current marketing plan.
SDLC - Software Development Life Cycle
Short for the Software Development Life Cycle, SDLC is a strategy used to break the process of developing an app into an organized, predictable methodology.
SMART Goal Setting
Product managers who want to increase their odds for success should consistently turn to the SMART goal setting approach. It’s their best tool for creating realistic, clear objectives and for driving motivation.
SWOT Analysis
The SWOT analysis framework assessing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to business, their rivals, or their project planning. SWOT is an acronym for these four factors.
Sales Forecast
A sales forecast is a business’s estimation of a product’s future sales. This helps companies make well-informed decisions related to resources, workforces, and more.
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
An agile framework designed to help scale agile practices for larger organizations with multiple teams working on multifaceted projects.
Scope Creep
Scope creep describes the tendency for projects to gradually expand, and take on a different scope of activity or output than was initially planned.
Scrum Master
Being a Scrum Master is a professional occupation and originates from a designated role in the Scrum framework. A Scrum Master is responsible for delegating and supervising agile software development activities based on the ideas and methods of Scrum.
Scrum Meeting
The Scrum meeting is executed daily, usually performed as a stand-up meeting. Participants include all Scrum team members, such as product owner, Scrum Master and development team.
Scrum of Scrums
Scrum of Scrums is an Agile technique used when companies need to coordinate multiple Scrum teams to build several and/or complex products. Scrum of Scrums is also known as “meta scrum” or SoS.
Scrumban
Scrumban is a combination of Scrum and Kanban. By combining the two, teams can visualize the organizational aspects of Scrum while benefiting from the flexibility of Kanban. It's a less rigid model that brings out the best in both workflows.
Seed Capital
Seed capital is a relatively small investment that contributed to a startup at the very earliest stage of the venture.
Setting Price
The first step to setting the price of your product or service is always to discover your baseline pricing.
Shape Up Method
The Shape Up Method is a process for developing products across six-week cycles, with “cooldown” periods between each. Teams have more autonomy to determine tasks and manage them to completion, freeing leaders from time-consuming micromanagement.
Ship Products
Shipping products is part of an iterative workflow, in which an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is released to gather valuable feedback. This information inspires future updates to improve the product and deliver a better user experience.
Shipyard Engine
A shipyard engine is a tool used to help teams communicate while continuously updating a software product. It goes above typical VCS systems, forcing team members to justify the updates they ship and to notify other team members of their updates.
Single Source of Truth
Single source of truth, or SSOT, is a concept generally used to make sure that all of the organization’s members rely on the same data for business decisions. Keywords: single source of truth
Six Thinking Hats
The six thinking hats is a method used to make creative discussions more productive. It's based on the work of Dr. Edward de Bono, a widely respected psychologist and author.
Soft Skills
Soft skills are personal attributes that enhance our ability to perform our professional roles. Problem-solving, communication, and emotional intelligence are some of the most sought after soft skills.
Software Testing Life Cycle
The software testing life cycle is a multi-phase process of testing software to make sure it meets your quality requirements.
Spike in Agile
A spike in the Agile development methodology is a type of user story focused on deciding how a feature should be developed, rather than actually developing the feature itself. Spikes are used when product teams have multiple paths to resolving a story.
Sprint
A sprint is a fixed length of time allocated to a team to complete specific tasks and achieve goals.
Sprint Backlog
A sprint backlog is the list of items selected from the product backlog to deliver during the current sprint. Crucially, this should also contain a solid plan for delivering the product increments to meet the sprint goals.
Sprint Goal
The sprint goal is a clear, simple objective to be completed during a single sprint or iteration.
Sprint Planning
In a sprint planning meeting, the scrum team will prioritize which items from the product backlog should be delivered during the current sprint.
Stage-gate Model
The stage-gate model is a process used to structure the product development cycle into a series of stages and gates. Each stage represents a milestone, and a gate separates each stage, where teams decide if and how to move forward.
Stakeholder
This is a person or group who can influence the success of the product, or in contrast, be affected by the product.
Stakeholder Analysis
This is an assessment of all of the people who will either have an impact on the success of the product or will be affected by it.
Stakeholder Management
The identification, assessment, and planning, of actions that are designed to engage with a business’ stakeholders.
Standup
A standup is a short daily meeting designed to share progress amongst the team and encourage good communication.
Story Mapping
Story mapping is the visualization of a user’s journey with your product, breaking each step down into user stories. This exercise can help you see clearly which features and functionalities are essential for your MVP.
Story Point
A story point is a unit of measure used in the agile development process to express an estimate of the overall effort that will be required to fully implement a product backlog item.
Strategic Roadmap
Strategic roadmaps help teams plan the next steps to achieve the goals of the overall business vision.
Success Factors
Success factors are all of the different internal and external influences which can impact the potential success of a business.
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Technical Debt
The accumulated later cost in the development of a project - in time and resources - of a mistake or technical decision.
Technical Product Manager (TPM)
Responsible for getting the product to market and its success or failure, and similar to a product manager but with more in-depth technical expertise.
Test Case
Test cases are used to strategically and methodically test software for bugs. Each test case is designed to catch different types of bugs in different scenarios, ensuring that as few bugs slip through the cracks as possible.
Test-Driven Development (TDD)
Test-Driven Development, or TDD, is a software development methodology in which features are developed and tested against specific test cases in parallel, as opposed to testing after the code is completed.
The 4 Ds of Time Management
When to-do lists start to grow overwhelmingly, the 4 Ds of time management can help product managers discern essential from non-essential tasks and get things done.
The 5 Forces
The 5 forces, also known as Porter’s 5 forces, is used in strategic business modeling to assess the strengths and weaknesses of any industry. 5 forces can be used to evaluate the industry structure of a specific company along with its place in the market.
The First Source of Guidance
The first source of guidance when creating an improvement roadmap is noticing your old working strategies just aren’t effective anymore. Recognizing the need for change is the first step when making an improvement roadmap.
The User Is Drunk
"The user is drunk" is a unique concept in product design and development: a website or app should be so user-friendly that even a drunk user will have a pleasant experience. This can help product teams to create more streamlined, satisfying software.
Theme in Product Management
A theme in product management is a simple way to convey a product’s value, comprising multiple features or initiatives which contribute to this overall objective.
Top-down Product Strategy
This is a strategy based on information passed downward from leadership to the product manager.
Total Addressable Market (TAM)
Total addressable market (TAM) refers to the maximum possible revenue a product or service could generate if it was able to activate every single relevant customer.
Town Hall Meeting
A town hall meeting is a company-wide meeting management can use to build corporate culture, outline company goals, and close any gaps between management and employees.
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UX Designer
Whilst the role of a UX designer may vary from business to business, you can think of them as an advocate users — it is the UX designer’s job to ensure the best possible user experience, in everything from purchase to packaging.
Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
A unique selling point (USP) is the key reason a customer should choose your brand, product or service — it’s what separates you from your competition.
Usability Testing
In usability testing, qualitative data is gathered from users on specific parts of your service or process. This data is used to improve the user experience, with the ultimate goal of retaining loyal customers.
User Experience (UX)
User experience (UX) refers to the total, end-to-end experience of using a product or service. UX designers use first-hand research to analyze every touchpoint and interaction, seeking to reduce friction and improve user satisfaction.
User Flow
User flow is the path taken by a prototypical user on a website or app to complete a task. Understanding user flow helps teams build more intuitive products.
User Interface (UI)
User interface (UI) is any method or means by which the end-user of a product interacts with, or controls, a product, software or hardware device. User interface is designed to allow humans to control machines effectively and efficiently
User Persona
A user persona is a semi-fictional character created to represent different customer types that use a company’s products or services.
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VP of product
The Vice President of Product supports an organization's Chief Technology Officer (CTO). The VP of product is responsible for leading the team to achieve strategic goals and initiatives by creating a product roadmap.
Value Proposition
A value proposition is an assertion of the benefits of the product to its potential consumers.
Value Stream Management
Value stream management is a management practice or technique intended to increase and optimize the flow of company value from end to end.
Value Versus Complexity
Value versus complexity is a prioritization framework assessing ideas by how valuable they are to the business and user, against how complex they will be to achieve.
Value versus Effort
Value versus effort is a prioritization model used to identify which features add the most value, while requiring the least effort. This helps teams to cut out anything that needs a lot of work, for little reward.
Vanity Metrics
Pageviews, registered users and app downloads are all vanity metrics. Whilst these figures are exciting at first, they are not useful in measuring true commercial impact and success.
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Waterfall
Waterfall software development breaks work into consecutive stages, that each happens one after the other until the completion of the project.
Website Metrics
Website metrics are a variety of measurements made on a given website in order to better track its performance and statistics.
Website Traffic
Website traffic is a term used for the number of visits a website receives. There are different ways to measure and increase traffic, to achieve better brand visibility and drive conversions.
Weighted Scoring
Weighted scoring is a framework designed to help teams prioritize outstanding tasks by assigning a numeric value to each based on cost-benefit analysis.
Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)
The weighted shortest job first prioritization framework looks at the cost of delaying a project against the amount of time or effort required to complete it.
What Went Well
What Went Well is a reflective exercise designed to analyze a product development phase or iteration. The key part is to identify what went well and what didn’t go well, but also to plan further steps based on your learning.
What, Not How
“What, not how” is a method that emphasizes the importance of what an application will do, rather than how it will work. This helps clarify a product’s purpose, speeds up planning, and simplifies decision-making during development.
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