Launching ProductManagerTemplates.com

Easy-to-use Templates for Product Managers. Starting with Notion and Miro. Soon on Google Docs.

Here's a TLDR for people like me who read everything diagonally 😅

1. I'm launching ProductManagerTemplates.com

2. I've organised templates based on frameworks and structures I built (with a lot of people's input) and used while at Kitch, One Month PM and advising multiple companies.

3. I'm starting with Notion and Miro templates that can accelerate your product organisation. We're adding Google Docs templates soon.

4. You can unlock Bundles (groups based on a specific use case) or All Templates & Bundles. Every time we add a template to a Bundle you've unlocked, we'll email it to you with no extra cost. If you unlock all, you'll receive every single new template for Free.

5. If you want to check it before committing, get 3 Free Template here. Hope you enjoy and share with other people and companies 🙏

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Alright, now to the patient ones, those who enjoy the craft of writing.

When I launched One Month PM I wasn't expecting 1) for it to grow to so many people in such a short time (1400 people in ~24 months), 2) getting such good feedback on this experiment (NPS ~80) and 3) having a large percentage of people (30%) repeating our courses and wanting more.

What I was also not expecting were the hundreds of messages on Slack asking for more support, more tools, more tips, and more guidance.

So I started building stuff, specifically templates, and including them when you enrolled in each course.

I re-created templates I used at Kitch, including famous frameworks from some of my favourite authors like Shreyas Doshi, John Cutler and Lenny Rachitsky, and I even crafted new templates I use on my day-to-day advising startups and operators.

And I now want to bring this to everyone, even if you don't join our courses. I'm simply calling it ProductManagerTemplates.com (I mean, it's what they are...)

The overarching goal is in line with One Month PM: 🚀 to accelerate anyone into building products people really want to use.

So what is available on this initial launch at ProductManagerTemplates.com? We're starting with 5 bundles and a total of 20 templates, both in Miro and Notion:

Product Roadmapping Bundle (unlock here)

• Product Roadmap Template

• Product Requirements Document (PRD)

• Product Roadmap Structuring Work Session

• Product Roadmap Ideation Work Session

Product Process Bundle (unlock here)

• Pre-Mortem Template

• Sprint Update Template

• Product Reviews Template

• Sprint Planning Template

• Sprint Retrospective Template

Product Planning Bundle (unlock here)

• Problem Space Template

• Prioritisation Template

• Prioritisation Work Session

• Risk Analysis Work Session

• Risk Assessment Template

Product Strategy Bundle (unlock here)

• OKR and Goals Template

• Product Strategy Template

• Product Vision Working Backwards Template

Product Leadership Bundle (unlock here)

• Coaching Template

• Performance Review Template

• First 90 Days Onboarding Template

When you unlock the templates, you can easily duplicate to your Notion or Miro Workspace, and start tweaking and editing your own way.

We're planning to expand this library to include:

1. More Notion and Miro templates, including Research, Prototyping, Metrics, Growth, Measurement templates.

2. Support more platforms like Google Docs, Coda and others our users use and love.

3. Whatever else our subscribed members want us to build. You can actually make requests if you unlock All Templates & Bundles.

We hope this is exciting, and more importantly, helps you deal with the headaches of building product. Share with others (PM's or non PM's) who would benefit from this guidance 😊

Thanks,

Andre

My thoughts on Brian Chesky's "change" of the PM role in Airbnb

TLDR: No, Airbnb doesn’t seem to be killing the PM function

A few thoughts on Brian Chesky’s decision to change Product Management at Airbnb. TLDR: No, Airbnb doesn’t seem to be killing the PM function.

A bit of context: around June 22nd, Brian told an audience that Airbnb was eliminating the PM role within the company. The reality, corrected by him, is that it’s more of an evolution towards a Product (Marketing/GTM/Business) Manager.

🚨𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Why do I cheer this change? Because unfortunately most PM's I meet are:

- Glorified Project Managers

- Requirement collectors

- Stakeholder shopping list takers

- Carrier pigeons between Leadership and engineers

- Professional “𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴”

All these ☝️ add extremely low value to a product-centric organisation. What really adds value is: 

1. True business outcome ownership

2. A consistent voice of the customer

3. A driver of go-to-market impact

If you think about it, a PM is a resource-allocator: “𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘙𝘖𝘐 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯?”. This is what Airbnb’s new role redesign seems to be focusing on: turning the PM into a GM, a General Manager of the impact of the product in the P&L (profit & loss). As it should be. Apple is known to have this “role design”, and at $3T it seems like it’s working.

Brian also mentioned how Design would be “elevated”. This IMHO is politically correct phrasing for “designers need to step up their product-game” (and not just designers but engineers as well). Great product orgs don’t run on a siloed-waterfall-style-process, where engineers get tickets and designers get specs and “now work!”. They collaborate, scope and iterate together.

𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 ⚠️ 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞?

 - Engineers that become PM’s and use their “technical expertise” as their strength

 - PM’s who are performing due to their project management skills

 - PM’s who care more about features rather than the business side of prioritisation

𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐦 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟?

 - Research savvy PM’s who are unafraid to speak with users

 - Sales-y PM’s who understand the commercial aspect of product

 - PM’s who understand the power of Marketing (and all its variances)

𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐦 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥):

 - Stakeholder leaders who expect their “shopping lists” to be prioritised

 - Managers who want detailed project management reports

 - Designers & Engineers who don’t care about the product process and live for their Figmas or IDEs.

I’m looking forward to seeing more PM GMs in the world driving real business impact, and funding it back to create user impact.

PS: Did you know the entire product management foundations program of One Month PM was designed EXACTLY like this? If you want to go deeper, apply for our Fall programs.

How pivoting their product strategy made these companies giants

The beginnings of Slack, Shopify, Twitter and Instagram

Some of the biggest products ever built didn’t start the way you think. And if these products didn’t decide to change, they would’ve probably died a long time ago.

Before Slack was Slack, it was Glitch, a massive online multiplayer game. When Glitch wasn’t working, the team pivoted into communication, something that was indeed working inside Glitch. This re-focus allowed Slack to be sold to Salesforce for $27B.

Before Shopify was Shopify, it was Snowdevil, a snowboard shop. When the founders of Shopify couldn’t easily get an e-commerce set up to sell their snowboard gear, they decided to build their own tools, which would become a platform for millions of future businesses. This re-focus allowed Shopify to hit $200B market cap.

Before Twitter was Twitter, it was ODEO, a podcast search engine. When ODEO wasn’t gaining traction, (in large reason due to Apple’s Itunes), the founders decided to experiment in a new field of social content: text. This re-focus allowed Twitter to be sold to Elon Musk for $44B.

Before Instagram was Instagram, it was Burbn, a social check-in app (remember Foursquare?). Even though check-in was growing, the founders saw that the most engaged users were mostly posting real-time photos of places. This re-focus allowed Instagram to be sold to Facebook for $1B and now estimated to be worth more than $100B.

Every single one of these pivots share a common trait: they simplified their product based on something their users (or the founders) did above all else.

And in a time where resources are scarcer, and the clock is turning faster every day, re-focusing your product strategy could be the way into something much bigger (including surviving).

How Product Vision fits in the toolbox of Product Management

And how it connects to the Mission, Opportunities and Solutions

The most common “I know what it means, but in reality I don’t” in product management is the product vision. The power of this tool is unrealised by most.

𝐀 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧.

Most PMs (and even product leaders) unconsciously de-prioritise designing a vision because they’re either focused on the operational and tactical part of managing the product, or they expect “someone above” (ie. CPO or founders) to take care of it. Often “those above” don’t do it either because they think they have “an empowered organisation, of course the vision comes from the PMs”. Broken loop.

What everyone doesn’t realize (and ends up missing) is that a product vision can…

1️⃣ help you and your team get out of bed in the morning and pumped. Especially if the day is filled with unsexy tactical things that are required to make the vision true.

2️⃣ help hire the best talent. Because which A-players don’t like to build an exciting future?

3️⃣ help avoid making wrong decisions. “Does it get us closer to paining the future we envision?” If not, should you really be chasing it?

The short term success of building a product vision is having your team using it to define their roadmaps. Long term success is lasting long enough to live it in person. And the easiest part: you can cascade it to goals, opportunities and solutions. If they all line up, then you’re likely execution against your vision.

Independently of the scope you manage, take an hour today and think “what is my product’s mission, and what does the future look like when fulfilling it?”. A beautiful narrative to that question is the raw form of your vision. Now start carving it.

The difference between PM, PO and Project Manager

🚀 Want to learn about Product Management? Check One Month PM. We run cohort-based Live-Learning on PM Foundations, Growth PM, Web3 PM, AI PM, No Code, UX Design and Data for PM. Every program starts at €99(+VAT).

Search for “Product Manager” roles on Linkedin and you’ll find infinite variations: PM, PO, Program Managers, Project Managers, etc. But are they all the same? I picked 3 typical roles and tried to define what each one mean:

For this I am using 4 variables:

1️⃣ What each role owns, i.e. you’re truly accountable for
2️⃣ What each role uses for planning, i.e. what will you be working with every single day or week
3️⃣ Who each role deals with on the day-to-day, i.e. which relationships will influence success in your job
4️⃣ What success looks like for each role, i.e. how you can deliver and grow within the role’s career path 

Let’s dive in:

1️⃣ Ownership:

- 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 own a project with a beginning and end, which when delivered should be done.
- 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 own a set of feature requirements and the delivery of epics, increasing the product’s capacity to add value.
- 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 own the product, the value delivered to users, and ultimately the P&L of that product for the company.

2️⃣ Planning:

- 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 use a Gantt chart project plan, including dependencies, critical path and tasks associated with delivering a project.
- 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 use a backlog of issues, stories and tasks, normally created by a PM or by the team, that compose the Roadmap.
- 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 use a Product Roadmap, outlining the narrative, opportunities and solutions that more likely get the product to its goals.

3️⃣ Relationships:

- 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 deal with every stakeholder assigned to the project. If you’re not contributing, you’re out of their scope. 
- 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 deal with engineering, design and product managers responsible with executing on the product
- 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 deal with stakeholders, customers, and everyone building product, guaranteeing alignment between the decisions and value

4️⃣ Success:

- 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 succeed when they deliver the shortest critical path and the project on time
- 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 succeed when they have properly defined requirements, and a smooth path of features to production
- 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 succeed when they progress towards Product-Market-Fit, delivering retained, happy customers to the company

Hopefully this helps differentiate the roles and expectations. Even though I don't believe in the PO role, I respect that companies have their own cultures, but let's not make someone a PO and expect them to do the PM work.