Product Manager Snippets
Note: This GIF shows how to copy snippets to your dashboard so that you can use them and customize them to fit your needs.
If you work as a product manager, using snippets can boost your productivity and help you save hours of your time with timely, accurate, and customized template responses.
Snippets in this folder were created by Eran Arkin, PM@Facebook, former PM@Google
Here are some snippets that you might find useful.
Copy these to your dashboard, customize the snippets to your needs, and find new ways to use Text Blaze.
Basic PRD Template
A product requirements document (PRD) defines the requirements of a product, including the value and purpose of a product or feature. This snippet use the Form Text command to capture the PRD title.
{formtext: name=PRD title}
- Description: What is it?
- Problem: What problem is this solving?
- Why: How do we know this is a real problem and worth solving?
- Success: How do we know if we’ve solved this problem?
- Audience: Who are we building for?
- What: Roughly, what does this look like in the product?
- How: What is the experiment plan?
- When: When does it ship and what are the milestones?
Meeting Template
This snippet can be used as an automated email template that is sent to the product team before you begin a meeting. This template uses the Time command to insert today's day of week and date.
{time: dddd}, {time: MM-DD-YY} - {formtext: name=Meeting title; cols=40}
- AIs
- Discussion Points
- Follow ups from last week
- FYIs
One on One Meeting Template
Use this snippet to conduct One on One meetings more efficiently. This template also uses the Time command to insert today's day of week and date for the 1o1 meeting.
{time: dddd}, {time: MM-DD-YY}
- How are you?
- What do you want to talk about?
- Things I want to talk about beyond the standing questions.
Standing questions:
- Anything I can help you with?
- Any opportunities to improve in terms of product, people, processes, culture?
- Any feedback for me?
New Team Member Introduction Template
The snippet below uses form fields to create an email template you can customize and personalize when inserting the snippet and the Form Date command to capture the date.
{formdate: MM/DD/YYYY} Intro 1:1 {formtext: name=name} <> John
- Intro
- Connect
- Some Questions
Questions About Past Performance
- How has this organization performed in the past?
- How do people in the organization think it has performed?
- How were goals set? Were they insufficiently or overly ambitious?
- What behaviors did the goals encourage and discourage?
- What happened if goals were not met?
Root Causes
- If performance has been good, why has that been the case?
- What has been the relative contributions of strategy. structure, systems, talent bases, culture politics?
- If performance has been poor, why has that been the case? Do the primary issues reside in the organization's strategy? Its structure? Its technical capabilities? Its culture? Its politics?
History of Change=
- What efforts have been made to change the organization? What happened?
- Who has been instrumental in shaping this organization?
Questions About the Present
Vision and Strategy
What is the stated vision and strategy? Is the organization really pursuing that strategy? If not, why not? If so, will the strategy take the organization where it needs to go?
People
- Who is capable and reliable?
- Who has influence, and why?
Processes
- What are the key processes?
- Are they performing acceptably in quality, reliability, and timeliness? If not, why not?
Land Mines
What lurking surprises could detonate and push us off track?
Early Wins
- In what areas (people, relationships, processes, or products) can I achieve some early wins?
- What is 1 thing I can do this or next week to help you?
Questions About the Future
Challenges and Opportunities
- In what areas is the organization most likely to face stiff challenges in the coming year? What can be done now to prepare for them?
- What are the most promising unexploited opportunities? What would need to happen to realize their potential?
Culture
- Which elements of the culture should be preserved?
- Which elements need to change?
Working Style
What's your working style? Meeting cadence, update style
How to Create and Edit Snippets Yourself
These snippets include dynamic commands. If you’re interested in learning how to create these yourself, visit the pages below to learn more.
- Forms (to turn your snippets into customizable templates) (Pro feature)
- Time
- Formulas (Pro)
- Business logic (if/ then) (Pro)
Once you get comfortable with these features, head to your dashboard and give it a try yourself! You can also copy these snippets directly into your dashboard and customize them to fit your needs.
