Problem: I dont know where we spend our money. SOLVE.

Who: 2-4 users in a family

Solutions out there: Mint, all the bank apps etc…

Why don’t they work:

which one is your favorite?

The above template can make any simple process very professional and get alignment from stakeholders.

In this article, I will try to explain the CIRCLES method. What questions should a product manager ask? Some examples etc.. Let’s jump right in!

CIRCLES Framework

• Comprehend situation
• Identify customer
• Report customer needs
• Cut, through prioritization
• List solutions
• Evaluate trade-offs – thoughtful, analytical, objective
• Summarize recommendation

What is this mean for Product managers? examples, questions to ask etc…

Comprehend Situation

Try to understand the background of the feature/product that you are designing or building etc.. Start with Why? Why are we building this feature/product? what is the story behind it? of course then move to Who, what, how… Drill-down on who and slowly make your transition to use case by asking some use cases etc.. Just to get a better understanding! we will deep dive on use cases later in the 3rd section.Identify customer

Report customer needs

Main tabs

• News?
• Product
  • Case Studies
  • Useful stuff
  • Books?
• Media Library
• UX
  • Design
  • Research

Scrum Meetings

• Planning
• Daily stand up
• Grooming
• Retro

Churn analysis – monthly

• New Competitor features
• Churn information
• Example can be found here!

Sales feedback – monthly

Monthly Partnership Meeting – Description: Product leads it, involve CS, Tradeshow, Sales, and Biz-dev about updates, next steps etc!

Product Show MoR

Description: Product leads it. Gives a business update, eng, marketing everybody goes etc.

Core Meeting

Description: one of each department! Discussion items & updates!

Some of the great frameworks!

Porter’s 5 forces