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Category Taxonomy

Categories represent framework-agnostic PM activities. They enable skills to be mapped to any methodology (Triple Diamond, Lean Startup, Design Thinking, etc.) through a common vocabulary.

Table of Contents

Overview

Why Categories?

Product management methodologies use different terminology for similar activities: - Triple Diamond calls it "Discover" → we call it research - Lean Startup calls it "Customer Development" → we call it research - Design Thinking calls it "Empathize" → we call it research

Categories provide a neutral abstraction layer that lets skills work across methodologies without being tied to any specific framework's vocabulary.

They are also orthogonal to classification. Domain, foundation, and utility skills can all use the same metadata.category taxonomy.

How Categories Work

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     PM Methodologies                        │
├─────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────────────┤
│ Triple Diamond  │  Lean Startup   │    Design Thinking      │
│    Discover     │  Customer Dev   │      Empathize          │
└────────┬────────┴────────┬────────┴────────────┬────────────┘
         │                 │                     │
         └─────────────────┼─────────────────────┘
                           ▼
                 ┌─────────────────┐
                 │    research     │  ← Category (neutral)
                 └─────────────────┘
                           │
         ┌─────────────────┼─────────────────┐
         ▼                 ▼                 ▼
┌─────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┐
│ interview-      │ competitive-    │ stakeholder-    │
│ synthesis       │ analysis        │ summary         │
└─────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┘
                        Skills

Category Properties

Each category has: - Name: Lowercase identifier used in frontmatter (metadata.category) - Description: What type of PM work this represents - Activities: Common tasks that fall under this category - Skills: The pm-skills that belong to this category

Categories

research

Understanding users, market, and context

Purpose: Gather insights about users, competitors, and stakeholders to inform product decisions. Research activities help teams understand the landscape before making strategic choices.

Activities: - User interviews and synthesis - Market and competitive analysis - Stakeholder mapping and alignment - Customer discovery conversations - Usability research

Skills (4):

Skill Description
interview-synthesis Synthesizes user research interviews into actionable insights, patterns, and recommendations
competitive-analysis Creates structured competitive analysis comparing features, positioning, and strategy
stakeholder-summary Documents stakeholder needs, concerns, and influence for a project or initiative
persona Generates context-appropriate product or marketing personas with explicit assumptions and evidence trail

When to use research skills: - Starting a new initiative and need to understand the problem space - Evaluating market opportunities or competitive threats - Onboarding to a new product area - Building alignment with stakeholders before major decisions

Common workflow: 

stakeholder-summary → interview-synthesis → competitive-analysis
     (who)               (users)              (market)

problem-framing

Defining what problem to solve

Purpose: Articulate the problem clearly before jumping to solutions. Problem-framing activities ensure teams invest in solving the right problem and can communicate why it matters.

Activities: - Problem definition and scoping - Opportunity identification and prioritization - Jobs-to-be-done analysis - Success criteria definition - Constraint mapping

Skills (3):

Skill Description
problem-statement Creates a clear problem framing document with user impact, business context, and success criteria
opportunity-tree Creates an opportunity solution tree mapping desired outcomes to opportunities and potential solutions
jtbd-canvas Creates a Jobs to be Done canvas capturing the functional, emotional, and social dimensions of a customer job

When to use problem-framing skills: - Starting a new initiative to establish shared understanding - Realigning a drifted project back to its original intent - Communicating priorities to leadership - Deciding between multiple potential opportunities

Common workflow: 

jtbd-canvas → problem-statement → opportunity-tree
  (why)          (what)            (where)

ideation

Generating and evaluating solutions

Purpose: Explore potential solutions and form testable hypotheses. Ideation bridges problem understanding and detailed specification by proposing approaches without over-committing.

Activities: - Solution brainstorming and exploration - Hypothesis formation - Concept development - Trade-off analysis - Approach pitching

Skills (2):

Skill Description
hypothesis Defines a testable hypothesis with clear success metrics and validation approach
solution-brief Creates a concise one-page solution overview that communicates the proposed approach, key decisions, and trade-offs

When to use ideation skills: - After problem framing, before committing to a solution - When multiple valid approaches exist - Pitching a solution approach to stakeholders - Designing experiments to test assumptions

Common workflow: 

hypothesis → solution-brief
  (if/then)    (how)

specification

Detailing what to build

Purpose: Translate solution concepts into detailed requirements that engineering can implement. Specification activities define the "what" clearly enough that teams can estimate, build, and test.

Activities: - Requirements documentation - User story writing - Technical decision records - Edge case analysis - Design rationale documentation

Skills (6):

Skill Description
acceptance-criteria Generates structured Given/When/Then acceptance criteria for stories and feature slices
prd Creates a comprehensive Product Requirements Document for engineering handoff
user-stories Generates user stories with clear acceptance criteria from product requirements
edge-cases Documents edge cases, error states, boundary conditions, and recovery paths
adr Creates an Architecture Decision Record documenting significant technical decisions
design-rationale Documents the reasoning behind design decisions including alternatives considered

When to use specification skills: - After solution alignment, before engineering begins - When breaking down features for sprint planning - Making significant technical or design decisions - Ensuring comprehensive test coverage

Common workflow: 

prd → user-stories → edge-cases
       ↓
      adr (if technical decisions needed)
       ↓
   design-rationale (if UX decisions needed)

validation

Testing assumptions with data

Purpose: Design and instrument experiments to validate hypotheses with real data. Validation activities ensure teams measure what matters and can draw valid conclusions.

Activities: - Experiment design (A/B tests) - Analytics instrumentation - Dashboard specification - Measurement planning - Sample size calculation

Skills (3):

Skill Description
experiment-design Designs an A/B test or experiment with clear hypothesis, variants, success metrics, and duration
instrumentation-spec Specifies event tracking and analytics instrumentation requirements for a feature
dashboard-requirements Specifies requirements for an analytics dashboard including metrics, visualizations, and data sources

When to use validation skills: - Before launching an A/B test - When implementing new features that need tracking - Requesting dashboards from data teams - Planning measurement for success criteria

Common workflow: 

instrumentation-spec → experiment-design → dashboard-requirements
    (track)              (test)              (monitor)

reflection

Learning and improving

Purpose: Capture learnings from experiments, projects, and incidents to improve future work. Reflection activities turn experience into organizational knowledge.

Activities: - Experiment result analysis - Retrospectives - Lessons learned documentation - Pivot/persevere decisions - Knowledge capture

Skills (5):

Skill Description
experiment-results Documents the results of a completed experiment with statistical analysis and recommendations
retrospective Facilitates and documents a team retrospective capturing what went well, what to improve, and action items
lessons-log Creates a structured lessons learned entry for organizational memory
pivot-decision Documents a strategic pivot or persevere decision with evidence, analysis, and rationale

When to use reflection skills: - After experiments conclude (success or failure) - At the end of sprints, projects, or milestones - Following incidents or significant learnings - When evaluating whether to change strategic direction

Common workflow: 

experiment-results → pivot-decision (if needed)
        ↓
  retrospective → lessons-log

coordination

Aligning teams and stakeholders

Purpose: Coordinate across teams and communicate with stakeholders. Coordination activities happen throughout the product lifecycle to keep everyone aligned.

Activities: - Launch preparation and checklists - Release communication - Spike/exploration synthesis - Backlog refinement documentation - Cross-functional alignment

Skills (7):

Skill Description
launch-checklist Creates a comprehensive pre-launch checklist covering all functions
release-notes Creates user-facing release notes that communicate changes in benefit-focused language
spike-summary Documents the results of a time-boxed technical or design exploration
refinement-notes Documents backlog refinement session outcomes including stories refined and decisions made
pm-skill-builder Guides contributors from a PM skill idea to a complete Skill Implementation Packet for the repo
pm-skill-validate Audits an existing skill against structural conventions and quality criteria
pm-skill-iterate Applies targeted improvements to a skill based on feedback or validation reports

When to use coordination skills: - Before significant launches (1-2 weeks out) - After completing technical explorations - During or after refinement sessions - When shipping updates to communicate changes

Common workflow: 

spike-summary → refinement-notes → launch-checklist → release-notes
  (explore)       (plan)            (prepare)         (communicate)

Framework Mapping

Quick Reference

Category Triple Diamond Lean Startup Design Thinking
research Discover Customer Development Empathize
problem-framing Define — Define
ideation Define/Develop Build (hypothesis) Ideate
specification Deliver Build Prototype
validation Measure Measure Test
reflection Iterate Learn —
coordination All phases All phases All phases

Detailed Mapping

Triple Diamond (6 phases)

Discover    → research
Define      → problem-framing, ideation
Develop     → ideation, specification
Deliver     → specification, coordination
Measure     → validation
Iterate     → reflection

Lean Startup (Build-Measure-Learn)

Customer Development → research
Build               → problem-framing, ideation, specification
Measure             → validation
Learn               → reflection

Design Thinking (5 stages)

Empathize   → research
Define      → problem-framing
Ideate      → ideation
Prototype   → specification
Test        → validation

Category Selection Guide

Use this decision tree to select the right category:

What type of PM work are you doing?
│
├─ Understanding the landscape?
│  └─ research
│
├─ Clarifying the problem?
│  └─ problem-framing
│
├─ Exploring solutions?
│  └─ ideation
│
├─ Defining requirements?
│  └─ specification
│
├─ Testing with data?
│  └─ validation
│
├─ Learning from outcomes?
│  └─ reflection
│
└─ Coordinating people?
   └─ coordination

Category Distribution

Summary of skills across categories:

Category Skill Count Skills
research 4 interview-synthesis, competitive-analysis, stakeholder-summary, persona
problem-framing 3 problem-statement, opportunity-tree, jtbd-canvas
ideation 2 hypothesis, solution-brief
specification 6 prd, user-stories, acceptance-criteria, edge-cases, adr, design-rationale
validation 3 experiment-design, instrumentation-spec, dashboard-requirements
reflection 4 experiment-results, retrospective, lessons-log, pivot-decision
coordination 7 launch-checklist, release-notes, spike-summary, refinement-notes, pm-skill-builder, pm-skill-validate, pm-skill-iterate
Total 29

See Also