Frameworks

Common frameworks used in product management for structured thinking, prioritization and decision-making.

Situation → Complication → Question → Answer — concise narrative for problem framing.

Problem → Objectives → Alternatives → Consequences → Trade-offs — decision-focused analysis.

Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive — a way to structure options without overlap.

Root-cause analysis by iteratively asking why a problem occurs.

Cause-and-effect diagram to map potential drivers of a problem.

Break problems down to fundamental truths and reason up from there.

Reach × Impact × Confidence / Effort — scoring model to prioritize initiatives.

Example RICE score:
Reach: 1000 users, Impact: 3 (medium), Confidence: 0.8, Effort: 5 person-weeks
Score = (1000 * 3 * 0.8) / 5 = 480

Must / Should / Could / Won’t — simple prioritization to align stakeholders.

Categorize features into Basic, Performance and Delight to guide investments.

Impact × Confidence × Ease — a quick heuristic for prioritization.

Product trade-offs, cost–benefit matrices and risk analysis for evaluating options.