PM Design Thinking for Web Development
Core Principle
Users don't want features. They want outcomes. Build backward from the transformation.
The Double Diamond Applied
Diamond 1: Problem Space
"Before building: Who is frustrated? What are they trying to accomplish?
What's blocking them? What does success look like in their words?"
Diamond 2: Solution Space
"After understanding: What's the smallest thing we can build to test
if we understood the problem correctly?"
User Story → Agent Prompt Translation
| PM Artifact | Agent-Ready Specification |
|---|---|
| "As a user, I want to filter products" | "Build product filtering: by category (multi-select), price range (slider), and availability. Show result count updating in real-time. Empty states show 'No matches' with clear-filters option" |
| "Improve checkout conversion" | "Reduce checkout to single page. Show running total. Validate fields on blur, not submit. Guest checkout default, account creation optional post-purchase" |
Jobs-to-be-Done Framework
Structure prompts around JTBD:
"When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [outcome]"
→ "When a user lands on the dashboard Monday morning, they want to see
what needs attention first, so they can prioritize without clicking
around. Build a 'needs attention' widget showing: overdue tasks,
unread messages, approaching deadlines—sorted by urgency."
Prioritization Lens
Before prompting, filter through:
- Impact: How many users? How painful?
- Effort: Agent hours, not human hours
- Risk: What breaks if we're wrong?
- Learning: What do we discover by building this?
Rapid Prototyping Prompts
"Build a clickable prototype (React) of the new onboarding flow.
Hardcode the data. Focus on interaction patterns, not backend.
I need to test this with users tomorrow."
Anti-Patterns
| PM Theater | Real PM Thinking |
|---|---|
| "Add a dashboard" | "Help users answer: Am I on track today?" |
| "We need analytics" | "We need to know if users find value before day 7" |
| "Make it intuitive" | "New users complete core action in <2 minutes without help text" |
Power Move
"Before building, generate 3 different approaches to solving [user problem]. For each, state: the assumption it tests, the simplest possible implementation, and how we'd know it worked."
The agent becomes a product thinking partner, not just a feature factory.
Related Skills
| Skill | When to use it |
|---|---|
idea-validation | Before feature definition — validate that the problem is worth solving |
product | After feature definition — write PRDs, prioritize roadmaps, manage scope |