How to make Product Specs that Your Teammates and Executives will Actually Want to Read (aka - The Product Thesis)
Virtually every first time product manager, and even many in the middle of their career struggle with this. It’s something that is super critical, and is the linchpin of good product management, and it’s something that I got a LOT of help learning early in my career, and it made a huge difference. It’s the Product Spec. In this episode, I share the common mistakes product managers make in their product specs and exactly how you can make an awesome one that your team and boss will love.
I learned how to make a great product spec from long-time Silicon Valley product leader Josh Elman. He calls it the "Product Thesis" and that's what we cover today.
Here's a breakdown of the sections I talk about for The Product Thesis:
1. Why are we working on this next?
2. When and how do people use this feature? (aka - what are the use cases?)
3. What problems do we need to solve?
4. How much time is budgeted for this project, and when does this need to be completed?
5. What are the future considerations that must be accounted for?
6. What is our KPI or metric for this thesis?
7. For larger companies: Who are the stakeholders and how/when do they need to be involved?
8. Optional: What kind of launch or marketing/sales efforts go with this feature?
9. Further Reading (aka - links to data, interviews, designs, mockups, etc)
Here's a breakdown of the sections I talk about for The Product Thesis:
1. Why are we working on this next?
2. When and how do people use this feature? (aka - what are the use cases?)
3. What problems do we need to solve?
4. How much time is budgeted for this project, and when does this need to be completed?
5. What are the future considerations that must be accounted for?
6. What is our KPI or metric for this thesis?
7. For larger companies: Who are the stakeholders and how/when do they need to be involved?
8. Optional: What kind of launch or marketing/sales efforts go with this feature?
9. Further Reading (aka - links to data, interviews, designs, mockups, etc)
Helpful links mentioned in this episode:
- Follow Josh Elman on Twitter for more insights
- Learn about the Product Cauldrons Steve jobs did in this post: What it's like to work with Steve Jobs
- Read more about the Product Thesis here.
- Sign up here and I'll send you a template you can use to apply the product thesis at your job.
Learn more and connect with Jason Evanish:
- Get more product advice on Jason's blog
- For more product advice, thoughts on tech, and more, Follow Jason on Twitter
- You can take your learning to the next level and get coaching from Jason or take his course here
(0:49) - Mistakes made on the average Product Spec
(3:17) - The Product Thesis
(8:02) - So how does it work?
(10:06) - What goes into a Product Thesis?
(12:05) - Why are we working on this next?
(14:57) - When and how do people use this feature? (Aka - what are the use cases?)
(18:24) - What problems do we need to solve, and in what priority?
(24:19) - How much time is budgeted for this project? When does this need to be completed by?
(25:56) - What are the future considerations that must be accounted for?
(27:28) - What is our KPI or metric for this thesis?
(29:59) - For larger companies: Who are the stakeholders and how/when do they need to be involved?
(31:14) - Optional: What kind of launch or marketing/sales efforts go with this feature?
(32:27) - Further Reading
(34:13) - Wrapping up
