Blog

New! The Productside Blueprint & Playbook for Product Managers

07/28/23
10:00 am

Blog Author: Cameron Lanier

Today, we’re excited to announce the Productside Blueprint, a new and improved visual representation of the ideal, outcome driven product management process.

The Tallest Skyscrapers Start With a Blueprint

The world’s tallest and most impressive structures all started with a blueprint: a shared vision that set sights on the sky while laying out a plan on how to get there. Product management is no different.

In order for Product Managers to deliver results they need a blueprint to help them know what they’re building towards and how to get there.

The Productside Blueprint

Only the right blueprint will deliver the desired results, that’s why our team of product experts took the time to carefully craft the Productside Blueprint: a step-by-step, new and improved visual representation of the ideal outcome driven product management process.

For years, we taught the “optimal product process”, (much of which is included in the new Productside Blueprint), but over time our team of product experts has found ways to improve on the optimal product process while making the process more focused on outcomes. The new Blueprint is broken into 5 sections:

Context

The outermost ring is the “context” ring in which any product professional, (new or experienced), can start by understanding their role and how they are operate within an organization.

Discover + Investigate

Knowing their role, a product manager can move into the the Discovery phase, where it’s important for to investigate by gathering insights and potential opportunities based on customer/user pain-points and desires.

This is an important time to stay focused on the problem space.

Discover + Define

Discovery extends beyond the problem space and now moves into the solution space, as product managers begin to explore potential solutions with the help of a solidified problem statement. This is also a key time to determine product-market fit.

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Create

Moving out of the discovery phase, product managers can shift into product creation, focusing on go-to-market, testing, troubleshooting, and more.

Deliver

Your solution is delivered to customers/users, but as a product manager, that doesn’t mean you’re done. How do you measure success? Are you on the road to your outcomes? What comes next?

Checkpoints

Throughout the Blueprint you may have noticed the checkpoints, (marked with a small diamond shape), which are points in the process strategically placed as reminders to validate and communicate. These checkpoints are key times you can utilize in your organization’s governance process, and make decisions with all stakeholders.

Why is it so…Circular?

The Productside Blueprint, while being a step-by-step process, is designed in a way that is meant to reflect on the circular nature of product management. In other words, the Blueprint is meant to reflect how product management isn’t always a clean and sequential process. So often the process requires going back to something previous or sometimes being involved in two parts of the process at the same time. This is also why we have designed the blueprint with overlapping circles, to reflect the transitions and/or shifts between the phases.

The Productside Playbook

While the Blueprint is a great plan, it takes tools and skills to build skyscrapers. That’s why we developed the Productside Playbook alongside the Blueprint. The Playbook has 20+ “Plays” (or guides), with each including examples and templates designed to empower you with the tools you’ll need to reach your desired outcomes.

Below is a list of the 23 Plays (and their respective templates), found in the Productside Playbook.

Outcome & Strategy – Guided Discussion
Stakeholder Alignment
The Outcome Tree, Section One
Jobs-to-Be-Done & Outcomes
Personas – User & Buyer
Empathy Interviews
Affinity Mapping
Problem Identification
Framing the Problem
Exploring the Solution Space
Solution Hypothesis Statement
Positioning Statement
Lo-fi Experimentation
Risk Assessment
Product Outcome Canvas
Outcome-Based Roadmap & Release Plan
Tiny Acts of Discovery
Output Prioritization
Product Readiness Testing
Go-to-Market Enablement
Measuring Outcomes
The Outcome Tree, Section Two
Process Retrospective

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The Plays included above that make up the Playbook have been designed to take a product manager, or product management team, through the entire Productside Blueprint, providing them with the tools they will need to be successful. It starts out by setting sights on the outcomes and then provides the tools to get there.

Why the Change?

As mentioned previously, for years we taught the “Optimal Product Process,” much of which can still be found in the new, transformative materials we are releasing today. Over those years we have continuously updated the Optimal Product Process to include the best practices and developments in product management methodologies. As we’re sure product professionals can appreciate, it became clear that these new changes we’ve been working on were more than “version 2.0”, and that we needed an entirely new and improved solution.

These new tools have been heavily developed and invested in by our own team of product experts. Bringing together a team as experienced and knowledgeable as ours inspires a healthy amount of debate as to what the ideal product management process and best practices looks like. Further to that point, our team not only has decades of experience of their own in product management, but also years of experience in teaching and consulting in product management. They have seen it all.

This accumulation of experience has resulted in the new Productside Blueprint & Playbook. It is backed not only by experience, but by real-world application across a myriad of industries. It has been thoroughly developed, with great attention to detail to ensure it delivers what matters most to the students and organizations we work with: outcomes.

Try It Yourself

Perhaps the best news of all is that you don’t have to just take our word for how awesome these new materials are. You can, for free, gain access to 3 Plays, (with templates), right away when you download our Product Starter Pack, which includes:

#01: Outcome & Strategy – Guided Discussion
#02: Stakeholder Alignment
#13: Positioning Statement

And don’t worry, it’s called the “Product Starter Pack” for a reason. There will be more to come, but for now, give it a test drive, and see how you can elevate your product management work by becoming more outcome driven.

About The Author

Cameron Lanier

Formerly at Productside, I led fun, engaging content with top PM experts; now at Smart On X, I build marketing programs, launch products, and drive growth.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Productside Blueprint for product managers?

The Productside Blueprint is a visual, outcome-driven product management framework that guides product managers from strategy through delivery. It provides a clear, structured view of how to move from understanding context and customer problems to defining solutions, launching products, and measuring outcomes. The Blueprint reflects the real, iterative nature of modern product management.

How is the Productside Blueprint different from traditional product management frameworks?

Unlike linear product management frameworks, the Productside Blueprint is intentionally circular to reflect how product work actually happens. It emphasizes outcomes over outputs, continuous discovery, and frequent validation checkpoints. This approach helps product managers adapt to changing insights, revisit assumptions, and align stakeholders without being locked into rigid, step-by-step processes.

What is included in the Productside Playbook for product managers?

The Productside Playbook includes 22 practical “Plays,” each with templates and real-world examples that align directly to stages of the Productside Blueprint. These Plays cover strategy, discovery, problem framing, solution design, roadmapping, go-to-market, and measuring outcomes, giving product managers actionable tools to consistently deliver customer and business value.

Why does outcome-driven product management matter for product teams?

Outcome-driven product management helps teams move beyond feature delivery to measurable business and customer impact. By focusing on outcomes, product managers can clearly connect daily work to strategic goals, improve stakeholder alignment, and make better prioritization decisions. This approach reduces wasted effort and helps teams escape the “feature factory” trap.

How can product managers try the Productside Blueprint and Playbook for free?

Product managers can experience the Productside Blueprint and Playbook by downloading the free Product Starter Pack. It includes three foundational Plays—Outcome and Strategy, Positioning Statement, and Stakeholder Alignment—complete with templates. This allows teams to test the outcome-driven approach immediately and start improving clarity, alignment, and results without commitment.