product

name	product
description	Write PRDs using Kevin Yien's Square template, prioritize roadmaps with RICE scoring, and define user stories with INVEST criteria—non-goals get equal attention because scope creep kills projects. Use when defining features, writing specs, prioritizing backlogs, or when "what to build next" needs structure.

Product Management

Core Principle

A PRD that doesn't say "no" to anything says "yes" to everything. Scope discipline is the product manager's highest-leverage skill.

PRD Writing (Kevin Yien / Square Template)

PRD Structure

1. PROBLEM STATEMENT
   What user pain are we addressing? Evidence?

2. GOALS
   What does success look like? Measurable outcomes.

3. NON-GOALS (Critical)
   What are we explicitly NOT doing? Why?

4. USER STORIES
   As a [persona], I want [action], so that [outcome].

5. DESIGN & UX
   Wireframes, flows, key interactions.

6. TECHNICAL APPROACH
   High-level architecture, dependencies, risks.

7. METRICS
   How we measure if this worked.

8. TIMELINE
   Milestones with dates.

9. OPEN QUESTIONS
   What we still need to figure out.

Non-Goals Section — Why It Matters

Non-goals aren't "things we'll do later."
They're "things we're choosing NOT to do, and here's why."

Example:
  Goal: "Users can filter search results by category"
  Non-goal: "Advanced boolean search queries"
  Why: "80% of users use single-category filters. Boolean
  search serves <5% of power users and triples complexity."

RICE Prioritization Framework

Score Each Feature

Factor	Definition	Scale
Reach	How many users affected per quarter?	Actual number
Impact	How much does it move the needle per user?	3=massive, 2=high, 1=medium, 0.5=low, 0.25=minimal
Confidence	How sure are we about R, I, and E?	100%=high, 80%=medium, 50%=low
Effort	Person-months to ship	Actual estimate

RICE Score

RICE = (Reach × Impact × Confidence) / Effort

Example A: Onboarding redesign
  Reach: 5,000 users/quarter
  Impact: 2 (high)
  Confidence: 80%
  Effort: 2 person-months
  RICE = (5000 × 2 × 0.8) / 2 = 4,000

Example B: Dark mode
  Reach: 1,000 users/quarter
  Impact: 0.5 (low)
  Confidence: 100%
  Effort: 1 person-month
  RICE = (1000 × 0.5 × 1.0) / 1 = 500

→ Onboarding redesign wins by 8x.

User Stories with INVEST Criteria

INVEST Checklist

Criteria	Question	Pass/Fail
Independent	Can it be built without other stories?
Negotiable	Is there room to adjust scope?
Valuable	Does the user get clear value?
Estimable	Can the team estimate effort?
Small	Can it ship in one sprint?
Testable	Can we write acceptance criteria?

Story Template

As a [specific persona],
I want to [concrete action],
so that [measurable outcome].

Acceptance criteria:
- Given [context], when [action], then [result]
- Given [edge case], when [action], then [handled gracefully]

Story Splitting Patterns

Too big: "As a user, I want to manage my account"

Split by operation:
  → "As a user, I want to update my email"
  → "As a user, I want to change my password"
  → "As a user, I want to delete my account"

Split by persona:
  → "As a free user, I want to see my usage limits"
  → "As a paid user, I want to manage my subscription"

Anti-Patterns

Product Theater	Real Product Work
PRD with no non-goals section	Non-goals are as explicit as goals
Prioritizing by HiPPO (highest paid person's opinion)	RICE score with documented evidence
"MVP" that has 30 features	MVP that solves one problem completely
Stories without acceptance criteria	Every story has testable conditions
Roadmap set in stone for 12 months	Quarterly commitments, annual themes

Power Move

"Write a PRD for [feature] using the Square template. Include 3 explicit non-goals with reasoning. Then RICE-score it against [alternative feature] and tell me which one to build first."

The agent becomes your product thinking partner — bringing rigor to what gets built and what gets cut.

Related Skills

Skill	When to use it
idea-validation	Before building — validate the problem exists and is worth solving
pm-design-thinking	During feature definition — frame features through user outcomes