Interactive
Clear Communication
Great PMs start by setting a few assumptions, aligning on scope, and sharing a simple plan for the discussion. They use waypointing to signal transitions, for example, “I will start with motivation, then audience, then problems, then solutions.” They check in before moving on. They avoid unstructured brainstorming and keep their reasoning easy to follow. Useful moves: State role and context, for example, “I am the PM for X within Y.” Pick a geography and platform focus to keep the problem manageable. Separate process from conclusions so listeners can track how you got there.
Adaptive
Product Motivation
Before talking features, great PMs explain why the product matters. They connect the product to human needs such as saving time, reducing risk, or feeling connected. They place the idea in a strategic and competitive context and finish with a short mission statement that guides choices. What to include: What the product enables for people and why the world is better with it. How it fits the company ecosystem and differentiates from competitors. A mission statement that is specific enough to guide choices and broad enough to allow creativity. Quick examples: Claude Projects mission, help people create AI assistants tailored to their own knowledge so daily work becomes faster and more personal. Meta gardening mission, connect home gardeners and help them learn and succeed together. Netflix podcasts mission, extend entertainment and learning into audio so people can enjoy it anywhere.
Intelligent responses
Segmentation & Problems
Strong PMs map the ecosystem, choose one primary player, then segment by motivations and behaviors, not only by demographics. They create a vivid persona, describe a day in the life, and list pain points across the journey. They prioritize by frequency and severity and tie the chosen problem back to the mission. How to segment: Motivations, for example, learn, create, relax, or connect. Behavior and context, for example, frequency of use, environment, device, constraints such as time or space. Personas and sample problems: Claude Projects, James the medical researcher struggles to connect insights across many papers. Context fragmentation is frequent and severe. Meta gardening, Casey the novice urban gardener cannot match plants to light and space, which blocks her from starting. Netflix podcasts, Alex wants to go deeper after documentaries and cannot find high quality follow ups. Learning continuity is missing.