Product Management Glossary
Clear definitions of key product management terms. Each entry explains what the concept is, why it matters, and how it connects to the product development workflow.
Product Roadmap
A product roadmap is a visual representation of the planned direction for a product. It communicates what the team inten...
Read →Sprint Velocity
Sprint velocity is the average number of story points (or other estimation units) that a team completes in a sprint. It ...
Read →Definition of Done
Definition of Done (DoD) is a shared checklist that specifies the conditions every user story, feature, or sprint must s...
Read →Feature Flag
A feature flag (also called a feature toggle) is a software engineering technique that lets you enable or disable a feat...
Read →Product-Market Fit
Product-market fit (PMF) means your product satisfies a real market need well enough that users actively seek it out, re...
Read →Technical Debt
Technical debt is the implied cost of future rework caused by choosing a quick or easy solution now instead of a better ...
Read →User Persona
A user persona is a fictional but realistic character that represents a key segment of your product's users. It includes...
Read →Product Ops
Product Ops (Product Operations) is a function that supports product management teams by managing the tools, data infras...
Read →Continuous Discovery
Continuous discovery is the practice of conducting user research, customer interviews, and assumption testing on an ongo...
Read →Product-Led Growth
Product-led growth (PLG) is a go-to-market strategy where the product itself is the primary driver of user acquisition, ...
Read →Story Points
Story points are a unit of measure for expressing the overall effort, complexity, and uncertainty involved in implementi...
Read →Kanban
Kanban is a workflow management method that visualizes work on a board with columns representing stages (To Do, In Progr...
Read →A/B Testing
A/B testing (also called split testing) is a controlled experiment where two variants of a product experience are shown ...
Read →Agile Manifesto
The Agile Manifesto is a set of four values and twelve principles published in 2001 by seventeen software practitioners....
Read →Burndown Chart
A burndown chart is a visual representation of work remaining versus time. The x-axis shows time (days in a sprint), and...
Read →Churn Rate
Churn rate is the percentage of customers (or revenue) lost during a specific time period. Customer churn rate is calcul...
Read →Customer Journey Map
A customer journey map is a visual representation of every interaction a customer has with your product, from first awar...
Read →Daily Standup
A daily standup (also called daily scrum) is a short, time-boxed meeting (typically 15 minutes) where each team member s...
Read →Design Thinking
Design thinking is a human-centered approach to problem-solving that emphasizes empathy, ideation, and rapid prototyping...
Read →Feature Toggle
A feature toggle (also called a feature flag) is a mechanism that allows you to enable or disable a feature at runtime w...
Read →Go-to-Market
A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is the plan for how you will introduce a product, feature, or update to your target market...
Read →Jobs to Be Done
Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) is a framework that defines products in terms of the "job" a customer is trying to accomplish, ra...
Read →Key Performance Indicator
A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a quantifiable metric that measures progress toward a specific business objective. ...
Read →Lean Startup
Lean Startup is a methodology developed by Eric Ries that emphasizes building products through validated learning, rapid...
Read →Net Promoter Score
Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures customer loyalty with a single question: "How likely are you to recommend this product...
Read →North Star Metric
A North Star Metric (NSM) is the single metric that best captures the core value your product delivers to customers. It ...
Read →Opportunity Solution Tree
An Opportunity Solution Tree (OST) is a visual framework developed by Teresa Torres that maps the relationship between a...
Read →Retention Rate
Retention rate is the percentage of users who return to your product after their first use, measured at specific interva...
Read →Scrum
Scrum is an agile framework that organizes work into fixed-length iterations called sprints (typically 2 weeks). A Scrum...
Read →Sprint Backlog
A sprint backlog is the set of product backlog items (user stories, tasks, bugs) that the development team commits to co...
Read →Time to Market
Time to market (TTM) is the total time it takes from when a product idea is conceived to when it is available to custome...
Read →User Acquisition Cost
User acquisition cost (CAC), also called customer acquisition cost, is the total cost of acquiring a new paying customer...
Read →Weighted Scoring
Weighted scoring is a prioritization framework that evaluates features or projects across multiple criteria, each with a...
Read →Wireframe
A wireframe is a low-fidelity, simplified visual representation of a product interface. It shows the layout, structure, ...
Read →Product Discovery
Product discovery is the process of determining what to build before committing to building it. It involves identifying ...
Read →Product Trio
A product trio is a collaborative partnership between a Product Manager, a Designer, and a Tech Lead (or Engineering Man...
Read →Dual-Track Agile
Dual-track agile is a product development approach that runs two parallel tracks: a discovery track (learning what to bu...
Read →Shape Up
Shape Up is a product development methodology created by Basecamp (Ryan Singer). It replaces sprints with 6-week cycles,...
Read →Impact Mapping
Impact mapping is a strategic planning technique developed by Gojko Adzic that visualizes the connection between busines...
Read →Event Storming
Event storming is a workshop-based technique created by Alberto Brandolini for exploring complex business domains. Parti...
Read →Feature Parity
Feature parity means achieving the same set of features as a reference product: either a competitor or a previous versio...
Read →Product Debt
Product debt is the accumulation of shortcuts, workarounds, and suboptimal product decisions that degrade user experienc...
Read →Scope Creep
Scope creep is the gradual, uncontrolled expansion of a project scope beyond its original boundaries. It happens when ne...
Read →Sprint Goal
A sprint goal is a short statement (one sentence) that describes the single most important objective for the sprint. It ...
Read →Release Train
A release train (also called a release cadence or train schedule) is a fixed-schedule release model where releases happe...
Read →Product Analytics
Product analytics is the practice of collecting, measuring, and analyzing data about how users interact with a product. ...
Read →Cohort Analysis
Cohort analysis groups users who share a common characteristic (most commonly their sign-up week or month) and tracks th...
Read →Activation Rate
Activation rate is the percentage of new users who complete a predefined key action (the "aha moment") that indicates th...
Read →Minimum Viable Product
A minimum viable product (MVP) is the smallest version of a product that can be released to validate a specific business...
Read →Product Requirement
A product requirement is a specific, testable statement that describes a capability, behavior, or quality a product must...
Read →Functional Requirement
A functional requirement describes a specific behavior or function of a system: what it must do, what inputs it accepts,...
Read →Non-Functional Requirement
A non-functional requirement (NFR) specifies a quality attribute of the system: how it performs, how reliable it is, how...
Read →Sprint Planning
Sprint planning is a time-boxed Scrum event at the beginning of each sprint where the team selects items from the produc...
Read →Sprint Retrospective
A sprint retrospective is a Scrum ceremony held at the end of each sprint where the team reflects on what went well, wha...
Read →Backlog Refinement
Backlog refinement (also called backlog grooming) is the ongoing process of reviewing, clarifying, estimating, and prior...
Read →Product Lifecycle
The product lifecycle describes the stages a product passes through from initial conception to eventual retirement: Intr...
Read →Feature Creep
Feature creep (also called scope creep or requirement creep) is the uncontrolled expansion of product features beyond th...
Read →Technical Specification
A technical specification (tech spec) is a document that describes how a feature will be implemented at the technical le...
Read →Continuous Integration
Continuous integration (CI) is a software development practice where developers frequently merge their code changes into...
Read →Continuous Deployment
Continuous deployment (CD) is the practice of automatically deploying every code change that passes the automated test s...
Read →DevOps for PMs
DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) to shorten the development...
Read →Stakeholder Management
Stakeholder management is the systematic practice of identifying people who have influence over or are affected by produ...
Read →Change Management
Change management is the structured approach to preparing, equipping, and supporting people through a transition. In pro...
Read →Risk Assessment
Risk assessment in product management is the systematic process of identifying potential problems that could affect a pr...
Read →Two-Way Door Decision
A two-way door decision is one that is easily reversible. If the decision does not work out, you can walk back through t...
Read →One-Way Door Decision
A one-way door decision is one that is difficult, expensive, or impossible to reverse once made. Walking through this do...
Read →Reversibility
Reversibility is the degree to which a decision can be undone after it is made. Highly reversible decisions (changing co...
Read →Product Council
A product council is a cross-functional meeting of senior leaders (typically VP-level from product, engineering, design,...
Read →Product Trio
The product trio is the core collaboration unit of modern product teams: the product manager, the product designer, and ...
Read →Discovery Cadence
Discovery cadence is the regular, ongoing rhythm at which a product team conducts customer research, tests assumptions, ...
Read →Leading Indicator
A leading indicator is a metric that changes before the outcome it predicts. In product management, leading indicators p...
Read →Lagging Indicator
A lagging indicator is a metric that reflects what has already happened. Revenue, churn rate, customer count, and NPS sc...
Read →Vanity Metric
A vanity metric is a measurement that looks impressive in reports but does not inform product decisions or reflect real ...
Read →Pirate Metrics (AARRR)
Pirate metrics, or AARRR (named for the pirate sound), is a framework developed by Dave McClure for measuring the custom...
Read →Product-Qualified Lead
A product-qualified lead (PQL) is a user who has experienced meaningful value from the product during a free trial or fr...
Read →Expansion Revenue
Expansion revenue (also called net revenue expansion or NRR contribution) is the additional revenue generated from exist...
Read →Cross-Functional Team
A cross-functional team is a group of people from different functional disciplines (product management, design, engineer...
Read →Empowered Product Team
An empowered product team, as defined by Marty Cagan, is a cross-functional team that is given problems to solve (object...
Read →Feature Team vs Product Team
A feature team is given features to build from a stakeholder-driven roadmap. The team output is measured by whether they...
Read →Product Requirement
A product requirement is a specific, testable statement that describes a capability, behavior, or quality a product must...
Read →Functional Requirement
A functional requirement describes a specific behavior or function of a system: what it must do, what inputs it accepts,...
Read →Non-Functional Requirement
A non-functional requirement (NFR) specifies a quality attribute of the system: how it performs, how reliable it is, how...
Read →Sprint Planning
Sprint planning is a time-boxed Scrum event at the beginning of each sprint where the team selects items from the produc...
Read →Sprint Retrospective
A sprint retrospective is a Scrum ceremony held at the end of each sprint where the team reflects on what went well, wha...
Read →Backlog Refinement
Backlog refinement (also called backlog grooming) is the ongoing process of reviewing, clarifying, estimating, and prior...
Read →Product Lifecycle
The product lifecycle describes the stages a product passes through from initial conception to eventual retirement: Intr...
Read →Feature Creep
Feature creep (also called scope creep or requirement creep) is the uncontrolled expansion of product features beyond th...
Read →Technical Specification
A technical specification (tech spec) is a document that describes how a feature will be implemented at the technical le...
Read →Continuous Integration
Continuous integration (CI) is a software development practice where developers frequently merge their code changes into...
Read →Continuous Deployment
Continuous deployment (CD) is the practice of automatically deploying every code change that passes the automated test s...
Read →DevOps for PMs
DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) to shorten the development...
Read →Stakeholder Management
Stakeholder management is the systematic practice of identifying people who have influence over or are affected by produ...
Read →Change Management
Change management is the structured approach to preparing, equipping, and supporting people through a transition. In pro...
Read →Risk Assessment
Risk assessment in product management is the systematic process of identifying potential problems that could affect a pr...
Read →