This document presents a product manager toolkit for choosing which product to use. It outlines a process including identifying problems, prioritizing needs, shortlisting options, comparing products based on factors like features and price, testing top options, and implementing the selected product. Checklists are provided for each step, such as considerations for prioritization like organization size and budget. The goal is to choose the optimal product that solves key problems through a rigorous, informed process.

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The
Product Manager
Toolkit
Moshe Mikanovsky
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So how do I choose
which product to use?

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Identify
Problems
Prioritize Shortlist Compare Test Implement

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Identify
Problems
Prioritize Shortlist Compare Test Implement

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Product Domain
Legal/Regulations
Competition
Discovery
Experiments
Valuable / Viable
Prioritize
Engineers Awareness
Influence Stakeholders
GTM / Education
ROI
KPIs
Data Insights Achievable

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Product
Domain
Legal/
Regulations
ROI
KPIs
Data
Insights
Prototyping
Wireframing
User Testing
A/B Experiments
User Feedback
Prioritization
Vision & Strategy
Pricing
Backlog
Communication
Surveying
Walkthroughs/Onboarding
Session recording / Heatmaps
Quantitative Feedback
Predictive Analytics
Books, SMEs, classes, conferences
Competitive research
General Counsel & compliance officer Competition
Discovery
Experiments
Valuable/
Viable/
Achievable
Prioritize
Engineers
Awareness
Influence
Stakeholders
GTM/
Education
Technical Writing
Knowledge Base
Product Analytics
Business Intelligence

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Prioritize Shortlist Compare Test Implement
Identify
Problems

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Use your
prioritization
method to
select the
priority of
problems to
solve/tools to
implement

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1. Size
a. Stage
b. Users
c. Complexity
What impacts our org’s decision making?

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1. Size
a. Stage
b. Users
c. Complexity
2. Maturity
a. Ownership
b. Skills
c. Current tools
What impacts our org’s decision making?

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1. Size
a. Stage
b. Users
c. Complexity
2. Maturity
a. Ownership
b. Skills
c. Current tools
What impacts our org’s decision making?
3. Culture
a. Values
b. Flexibility
c. Communication

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1. Size
a. Stage
b. Users
c. Complexity
2. Maturity
a. Ownership
b. Skills
c. Current tools
What impacts our org’s decision making?
3. Culture
a. Values
b. Flexibility
c. Communication
4. Budget
a. Current
b. Growth
c. Future spend

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Prioritize Shortlist Compare Test Implement
Identify
Problems

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E
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S
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E
LEARN
B
U
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D
Product
domain
Legal/
Regulations
ROI
KPIs
Data
Insights
Prototyping
Wireframing
User Testing
A/B experiments
User Feedback
Prioritization
Vision & Strategy
Pricing
Backlog
Communication
Surveying
Technical Writing
Knowledge Base
Walkthroughs/Onboarding
Session recording / Heatmaps
Quantitative Feedback
Predictive
Analytics
Business
Intelligence
Product Analytics
Books, SMEs,
classes, conferences
Competitive research
General Counsel &
compliance officer
Competition
Discovery
Experiments
Valuable/
Viable/
Achievable
Prioritize
Engineers
Awareness
Influence
Stakeholders
GTM/
Education

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Prioritize Shortlist Compare Test Implement
Identify
Problems

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9
Factors to
Compare

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Security
1 Product Philosophy
2
3
No vs Ongoing engineering required
4
5
6
Price
Integrations with other products
7
8
9
User experience
Features comparison
AI support
Company Culture

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Compare
Product Philosophy
1
● Deep vs Wide
● Entry Level vs Advanced
● Open Ended vs Deterministic
Philosophy icons created by Vectors Tank - Flaticon

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Consider these:
● One time or ongoing
● Efforts
● Controls
Compare
2 No vs Ongoing engineering required
Web development icons created by surang - Flaticon

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Integrations with other products
Compare
3
Consider these:
● How many
● Ecosystem
● Effort
● Current tools
Puzzle icons created by mynamepong - Flaticon

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User experience
Compare
4
Consider these:
● Intuitive
● Consistent
● Modern
● Accessible
● Platforms
Ux icons created by Muhammad Ali - Flaticon

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Security
Compare
5
Consider these:
● Standards
● Compliance
● Your data
Shield icons created by Freepik - Flaticon

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AI support
Compare
6
Consider these:
● AI component
● Is it required?
Artificial intelligence icons created by Good Ware - Flaticon

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Company Culture
Compare
7
Customer
Support/Success Sales/Marketing
Support icons created by Freepik - Flaticon
Consider these:
● Responsive
● Helpful
● Self served
● Reviews
Consider these:
● Product Led
● Short gains
vs long value

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Price
Consider these:
● Cost
● Free tier
● ROI
Compare
8
Price icons created by Freepik - Flaticon

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Features comparison
Compare
9
Consider these:
● Features
● Compare
● Limitations
● Additional cost
Features icons created by Talha Dogar - Flaticon

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Prioritize Shortlist Compare Test Implement
Identify
Problems

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Define
Success
Criteria
Test at
least 2
products
Contact
support
Compare
performance Decide
Define
test
cases
Test short-listed products

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Prioritize Shortlist Compare Test Implement
Identify
Problems

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Prioritize Implement Communicate
Train
users
Monitor
Define
scenarios
Implement selected product

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What can happen if we choose wrong?
● Wasted time and efforts
● Weak by-in to use
● Lock-in to a bad solution
● Expensive maintenance

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Can you use this
toolkit to understand
how potential users
choose your product?

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Thank you

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Resources
mikanovsky.com
linkedin.com/in/mikanovsky