This glossary provides definitions for key terms covering all aspects of the product lifecycle.
#all_things_product
AARRR (Pirate Metrics)
A framework that tracks five key growth metrics: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, Referral.
Why important for PMs: Helps structure product growth strategies by focusing on user behaviour at different stages.
Example: "We should analyse our AARRR funnel to identify where users drop off and optimize for better retention."
Related Terms: Activation Rate, Retention Curve, CAC
A/B Testing
A method of comparing two versions of a product or feature to determine which performs better.
Why important for PMs: Used to test different UI designs, pricing models, or marketing campaigns by splitting users into groups and measuring key metrics.
Example Sentence: "We ran an A/B test to determine whether a red or blue call-to-action button led to higher conversions."
Related Terms: Multivariate Testing, A/A testing, Conversion Rate Optimisation
Activation Rate
The percentage of users who complete a key action (e.g., setting up a profile, making a first purchase) after signing up.
Why important for PMs: A high activation rate means users quickly realize the product’s value, leading to better retention. PMs should identify and optimise the critical activation steps.
Example: "Our activation rate is low—let’s simplify the onboarding flow to help new users reach their first ‘Aha Moment’ faster."
Related Terms: Aha Moment, Retention Curve, Conversion Rate
Agile Development
An iterative approach to product development introduced in 2001. It prioritises flexibility and user feedback. The roots of Agile approach date back to earlier iterative and incremental development practices from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Why important for PMs: PMs use Agile methodologies to manage development cycles effectively, ensuring continuous improvements.
Example Sentence: "Our team follows Agile development, delivering incremental updates every two weeks."
Related Terms: Scrum, Kanban, Lean Development
Aha Moment
The point when a user first experiences the core value of a product, making them more likely to stay engaged.
Why important for PMs: Identifying and optimising the Aha Moment increases user retention and product stickiness.
Example: "Users who follow three friends within the first hour have a higher retention rate—that’s their Aha Moment."
Related Terms: Activation Rate, Retention Curve, User Journey
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)
The total revenue generated divided by the number of active users over a given period.
Why important for PMs: Helps PMs measure monetisation efficiency and optimise pricing strategies.
Example: "Our ARPU is rising after introducing premium features—let’s explore ways to expand this model."
Related Terms: LTV, Monetisation, CAC
Backlog
A prioritized list of tasks (features, technical improvements, etc) that a product or development team plans to work on in the future. A backlog is a fundamental part of Agile development methodologies, its task is to help teams organize and manage work efficiently. The backlog evolves as customer needs and business priorities shift.
Why important for PMs: It helps PMs track upcoming work, plan and align development with business goals.
Example Sentence: "We need to refine the product backlog before the next sprint planning session."
Related Terms: Sprint Planning, Product Roadmap, Kanban, Backlog Grooming
Best Practice Questions
Structured questions aimed at evaluating product decisions based on industry standards.
Why important for PMs: Helps PMs guide design, user experience, and business logic effectively.
Example Sentence: "During the feature review, we asked best practice questions to ensure we were solving the right problem."
Related Terms: Product Strategy, Heuristic Evaluation, Design Thinking
Blue Ocean Strategy
A market strategy that focuses on creating an uncontested market space rather than competing in existing markets.
Why important for PMs: PMs use Blue Ocean strategies to differentiate their products from competitors.
Example Sentence: "Instead of competing in a saturated market, we followed a Blue Ocean Strategy to create a unique subscription-based wellness platform."
Related Terms: Differentiation, Market Expansion, Disruptive Innovation
Churn Rate
The percentage of users who stop using a product within a given period of time.
Why important for PMs: High churn rate signals user dissatisfaction, requiring changes to retention strategies.
Example Sentence: "Our churn rate increased last quarter, so we're improving our onboarding experience to enhance user retention."
Related Terms: Retention Rate, Customer Lifetime Value (LTV), Engagement Metrics
Cohort Analysis
A method of analysing user behaviour by grouping them based on shared characteristics over a period of time.
Why important for PMs: It helps PMs track retention and engagement trends within specific user segments.
Example Sentence: "Our cohort analysis revealed that users who completed onboarding were 50% more likely to stay engaged after three months."
Related Terms: Retention Rate, Segmentation, Churn Rate
Competitive Analysis
The process of evaluating product competitors to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities.
Why important for PMs: It helps PMs position their product effectively in the market and identify strategic advantages.
Example Sentence: "Our competitive analysis showed that our main competitor lacks a mobile app, providing us a key differentiation opportunity."
Related Terms: SWOT Analysis, Market Research
Conversion Rate
The percentage of users who complete a desired action (e.g. signing up or purchasing).
Why important for PMs: Conversion rate is one of key metrics in measuring the success of marketing campaigns and product features.
Example Sentence: "We optimised our onboarding flow and saw a 15% increase in conversion rate."
Related Terms: Funnel Analysis, A/B Testing, CTR
Correlation Analysis
A statistical method used to identify relationships between two or more variables.
Why important for PMs: It helps PMs understand how different factors influence user behaviour and product performance.
Example Sentence: "Our correlation analysis showed a strong relationship between session duration and user retention."
Related Terms: Regression Analysis, Data Analysis
Customer Persona (Profile)
A detailed representation of a user (user group), including their demographics, behaviours, and pain points.
Why important for PMs: PMs can use personae to design features and marketing strategies tailored to user needs.
Example Sentence: "We created customer personae to better understand the needs of our target audience."
Related Terms: Market Segmentation, Cohort Analysis, CJM
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC, aka CoCA)
The total cost of acquiring a new customer, including marketing and sales expenses.
Why important for PMs: CAC is used to assess the efficiency of growth strategies and ensure sustainable business models.
Example Sentence: "Our CAC dropped by 20% after optimising our digital marketing campaigns."
Related Terms: LTV, Retention Rate, Growth Metrics
Customer Development
A structured approach to discovering and validating customer needs before building a product.
Why important for PMs: Helps ensure that product decisions are driven by real user insights, not assumptions.
Example: "Before building this feature, let’s conduct customer development interviews to validate the problem."
Related Terms: JTBD, Voice of Customer, Market Research
Customer Journey Map (CJM)
A visual representation of the steps a user takes when interacting with a product or service.
Why important for PMs: It helps PMs identify pain points and opportunities for improving the user experience.
Example Sentence: "By analysing our CJM, we discovered friction in the onboarding process, our users get bored."
Related Terms: UX Research, User Flow, Service Design
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
The total revenue a business expects from a customer over their entire relationship with the product.
Why important for PMs: It helps PMs make decisions about acquisition costs and long-term growth strategies.
Example Sentence: "We focus on increasing our LTV by improving user retention and upselling premium features."
Related Terms: Retention Rate, Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Churn Rate
Daily Active Users (DAU)
The number of unique users who engage with a product daily or monthly.
Why important for PMs: Measures user engagement and product stickiness.
Example Sentence: "Our DAU/MAU ratio is low—let’s investigate why users aren’t coming back daily."
Related Terms: Retention, Engagement, Churn Rate, Monthly Active Users
Edge Case
A rare or extreme scenario that a product may encounter but isn’t the primary focus of development.
Why important for PMs: Handling edge cases well improves reliability and user trust while balancing effort and priorities.
Example: "Our app crashes when a user enters a 500-character name—that's an edge case we should fix."
Related Terms: UX, Bug Fixing, Product Quality
Feature Flag
A mechanism that allows PMs to enable or disable features without deploying new code.
Why important for PMs: Helps manage feature rollouts, test changes with small groups, and reduce deployment risks.
Example Sentence: "We should use feature flags to release this update gradually instead of all at once."
Related Terms: Rollback, Experimentation, A/B Testing
Go-To-Market (GTM) Strategy
A plan for launching a product or feature, including marketing, sales, and distribution strategies.
Why important for PMs: Ensures a successful product launch and adoption.
Example Sentence: "Before launching, let’s align on the GTM strategy to drive adoption."
Related Terms: Product Launch, Monetisation, Market Fit
Jobs to Be Done (JTBD)
A framework for understanding what users "hire" a product to accomplish in their lives.
Why important for PMs: Helps PMs design features that solve real customer problems instead of just adding functionality.
Example: "Our users’ JTBD isn’t just 'booking a hotel'—it’s 'ensuring a hassle-free vacation experience.'"
Related Terms: Customer Development, User Persona, Value Proposition
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Measurable values that track product success and business goals.
Why important for PMs: Helps measure progress and guide decision-making.
Example Sentence: "Our main KPI for this quarter is increasing user engagement by 20%."
Related Terms: Metrics, OKRs, Data-Driven Decision Making
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
The simplest version of a product that provides value and allows for learning.
Why important for PMs: Helps test product-market fit with minimal investment.
Example Sentence: "Let’s launch an MVP first to validate demand before building the full version."
Related Terms: Product-Market Fit, Experimentation, Lean Startup
MoSCoW Method
A prioritisation framework categorising features into Must-have, Should-have, Could-have, and Won’t-have.
Why important for PMs: Helps teams focus on critical features while managing scope and resources.
Example: "Let’s use the MoSCoW method to prioritise features for the next release."
Related Terms: RICE, PRD, Sprint Planning
MRD (Market Requirements Document)
A document outlining customer needs, market landscape, and competitive analysis before building a product.
Why important for PMs: Ensures product decisions align with market demand and business strategy.
Example: "Before writing the PRD, we need an MRD to understand our target customers’ pain points."
Related Terms: PRD, Voice of Customer, Product Strategy
North Star Metric
A single metric that best captures a product’s core value to users.
Why important for PMs: Helps align teams and measure long-term success.
Example Sentence: "For our marketplace, the North Star Metric is the number of completed transactions."
Related Terms: KPIs, OKRs, Data-Driven Decision Making
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
A metric that measures customer loyalty by asking how likely users are to recommend a product (on a scale of 0-10).
Why important for PMs: High NPS indicates strong user satisfaction and potential for organic growth.
Example: "Our NPS dropped—let’s dig into feedback to understand what’s causing user dissatisfaction."
Related Terms: Retention, VoC, Customer Satisfaction
Onboarding
The process of guiding new users to understand and adopt a product.
Why important for PMs: A strong onboarding experience improves retention and activation rates.
Example Sentence: "Our onboarding funnel has a high drop-off rate—let’s simplify the signup process."
Related Terms: Retention, Customer Journey, User Experience
Prioritisation
The process of deciding which features, bugs, or improvements to work on first.
Why important for PMs: Ensures that teams focus on the most valuable work.
Example Sentence: "Let’s use a prioritisation framework to decide which features to build next."
Related Terms: Backlog, Roadmap, Trade-offs
Product-Led Growth (PLG)
A strategy where user adoption and retention drive growth, rather than traditional sales and marketing.
Why important for PMs: PLG helps scale products efficiently by focusing on self-serve and viral loops.
Example: "Our PLG approach relies on a frictionless onboarding experience to drive adoption."
Related Terms: Freemium, Activation Rate, Viral Coefficient
Product-Market Fit
When a product successfully meets the needs of a market and gains strong adoption.
Why important for PMs: Without product-market fit, growth efforts will be ineffective.
Example Sentence: "Before scaling, let’s confirm we’ve achieved product-market fit."
Related Terms: MVP, Monetisation, Customer Journey
Product Requirements Document (PRD)
A detailed document outlining what a product should do, including features, user stories, and technical constraints.
Why important for PMs: Aligns cross-functional teams on what to build and why.
Example: "Before development starts, let’s finalize the PRD to ensure clarity on feature scope."
Related Terms: MRD, Sprint Planning, Roadmap
Roadmap
A strategic plan outlining upcoming product initiatives.
Why important for PMs: Keeps stakeholders aligned on vision and priorities.
Example Sentence: "Let’s update the roadmap to reflect our latest priorities and user feedback."
Related Terms: Backlog, Prioritization, Strategy
Retention Curve
A graph showing how many users remain engaged with a product over time.
Why important for PMs: A flat retention curve indicates strong product stickiness, while a steep drop-off suggests churn issues.
Example: "Our retention curve drops sharply after week one—let’s improve onboarding to keep users engaged."
Related Terms: Activation Rate, Aha Moment, Churn Rate
RICE / ICE (Prioritization Frameworks)
Prioritization method based on Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort.
Why important for PMs: Helps prioritize features and initiatives by balancing potential impact with effort required.
Example: "We used RICE to rank our roadmap items—this feature has high impact but low effort, so it should be prioritized."
Related Terms: MoSCoW, Product Roadmap, PRD
ROI (Return on Investment)
A measure of profitability comparing the benefit of an investment to its cost.
Why important for PMs: PMs must ensure that resources are allocated to initiatives with the highest ROI.
Example: "Before building this new feature, let’s estimate its ROI to justify the development cost."
Related Terms: LTV, CAC, Business Metrics
SAM (Serviceable Available Market)
The portion of TAM (Total Addressable Market) that a company can realistically target with its products.
Why important for PMs: Helps PMs focus on the most attainable market segments.
Example: "Our TAM is 500M users, but our SAM is just 50M because we focus on enterprise customers."
Related Terms: TAM, SOM, Go-To-Market Strategy
Scope Creep
When a project expands beyond its original goals, leading to delays and increased complexity.
Why important for PMs: Managing scope creep helps keep product timelines and budgets on track.
Example: "To prevent scope creep, we need to stick to the agreed feature list for this release."
Related Terms: MVP, Agile, MoSCoW
SDD (Software Design Document)
A technical document that outlines the architecture, design, and implementation details of a software product.
Why important for PMs: Helps align engineering teams on how a product should be built, ensuring scalability and maintainability.
Example: "Before development starts, let’s review the SDD to confirm the architecture supports our future growth plans."
Related Terms: PRD, Tech Debt, System Design
SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market)
The percentage of the SAM that a company can realistically capture based on competition and resources.
Why important for PMs: Helps PMs set realistic growth expectations and sales targets.
Example: "We estimate that our SOM is 5M users, as we can only capture 10% of our SAM in the first year."
Related Terms: TAM, SAM, Market Share
Sprint Planning
A meeting where product and engineering teams define what work will be completed in the next sprint (Agile process).
Why important for PMs: Ensures alignment between business goals and development execution.
Example: "In sprint planning, let’s prioritize bug fixes to improve app stability before launching new features."
Related Terms: Agile, Backlog, Scrum
Total Addressable Market (TAM)
The total potential market demand for a product if there were no competitors or constraints.
Why important for PMs: Helps estimate the maximum growth opportunity for a product.
Example: "Investors want to know our TAM before funding—if the market is too small, scaling will be difficult."
Related Terms: SAM, SOM, Market Sizing
Tech Debt
The long-term cost of taking shortcuts in software development, often leading to bugs and maintenance issues.
Why important for PMs: Addressing tech debt early prevents scalability and performance problems later.
Example: "We need to allocate time in our roadmap to tackle tech debt before it slows us down."
Related Terms: Backlog, Engineering Trade-offs, Product Quality
User Story
A simple, user-focused description of a feature from the perspective of the end-user.
e.g., "As a user, I want to reset my password so I can log in again."
Why important for PMs: Helps teams focus on user needs rather than technical implementation details.
Example: "Before engineering starts, we need clear user stories to define the expected user experience."
Related Terms: Agile, PRD, Sprint Planning
Value Proposition
The unique benefit a product offers to users, solving a problem or fulfilling a need better than alternatives.
Why important for PMs: A strong value proposition helps differentiate the product and drive adoption.
Example: "Our value proposition is simple: we help businesses automate invoicing in half the time."
Related Terms: JTBD, Product-Market Fit, Business Model
Voice of Customer (VoC)
The process of collecting and analysing customer feedback to improve a product.
Why important for PMs: Ensures product decisions align with real user needs and pain points.
Example: "We use VoC insights from support tickets to guide our next product iteration."
Related Terms: Customer Development, NPS, Retention