Glossary
Product management glossary
Plain-English definitions of the product management terms you will meet when planning a roadmap, handling feature requests and working with stakeholders.
A
- Agile
- Agile is an approach to building software in small, frequent increments, with close collaboration and the ability to change plans as teams learn.
B
- Backlog refinement
- Backlog refinement is the regular activity of reviewing, clarifying, splitting, estimating and re-ordering items in the product backlog so the next pieces of work are ready to build.
C
- Changelog
- A changelog is a chronological, public record of changes to a product, usually listing each release with its date and what was added, changed or fixed.
- Closing the feedback loop
- Closing the feedback loop means telling the people who gave feedback what happened to it: whether it was planned, shipped or declined, and why.
- Competitive analysis
- Competitive analysis is the study of competing products and alternatives to understand where your product is stronger, weaker or different, and to inform strategy.
- Customer feedback portal
- A customer feedback portal is a website where customers can submit ideas and feature requests, vote on other people's requests and follow their status.
E
- Epic
- An epic is a large body of work that is too big to deliver in one go and is broken down into smaller user stories or tasks.
F
- Feature request
- A feature request is a suggestion from a customer, prospect or colleague for a new capability or a change to an existing one.
- Feature tree
- A feature tree is a hierarchy that breaks a product into areas, features and sub-features, so requests and work can be mapped to the part of the product they affect.
G
- Go-to-market (GTM)
- Go-to-market is the plan for bringing a product or feature to customers, covering positioning, pricing, channels, sales enablement and launch timing.
J
- Jobs to be done (JTBD)
- Jobs to be done is a framework that explains customer behavior by the progress people are trying to make in a given situation, the 'job' they hire a product to do.
K
- Kano model
- The Kano model classifies product features by how they affect customer satisfaction: basic expectations, performance features and delighters.
M
- Minimum viable product (MVP)
- A minimum viable product (MVP) is the smallest version of a product that can be released to real users to test a key assumption and start learning.
- Model Context Protocol (MCP)
- The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI assistants such as Claude or Cursor connect to other software to read data and take actions.
- MoSCoW method
- MoSCoW is a prioritization method that sorts requirements into Must have, Should have, Could have and Won't have (this time).
N
- North star metric
- A north star metric is the single measure that best captures the value a product delivers to customers, used to align teams on long-term growth.
- Now, Next, Later roadmap
- A Now, Next, Later roadmap groups work into three horizons instead of exact dates: what the team is working on now, what comes next, and what is planned for later.
O
- OKRs (Objectives and Key Results)
- OKRs are a goal-setting method in which an Objective states what you want to achieve and two to five measurable Key Results show whether you achieved it.
- Outcome-based roadmap
- An outcome-based roadmap is organized around the results a team wants to achieve, such as reducing churn or increasing activation, rather than a list of features to ship.
P
- Prioritization framework
- A prioritization (or prioritization) framework is a repeatable method for deciding which work to do first, by scoring or ranking options against agreed criteria.
- Product backlog
- A product backlog is the ordered list of everything a product team might work on: features, improvements, bugs and technical work.
- Product discovery
- Product discovery is the work of deciding what to build by understanding customer problems and testing ideas before committing to delivery.
- Product operations
- Product operations is the function that supports product teams with processes, tools, data and communication, so product managers can spend more time on product decisions.
- Product requirements document (PRD)
- A product requirements document (PRD) describes what a product or feature should do, who it is for and why, so the team can design and build it.
- Product roadmap
- A product roadmap is a shared plan that shows what a product team intends to build, roughly when, and why. It links the product strategy to the work the team will deliver.
- Product strategy
- A product strategy explains how a product will achieve the company's goals: who it serves, which problems it solves, how it wins against alternatives and what it will not do.
- Product vision
- A product vision is a short, inspiring description of the future a product aims to create for its customers, usually looking several years ahead.
- Product-market fit
- Product-market fit is the point at which a product satisfies a strong market demand, so customers buy, use and recommend it with little push.
Q
- Quarterly business review (QBR)
- A quarterly business review is a regular meeting, often between a vendor and a customer, to review results, discuss goals and look ahead, frequently including the product roadmap.
R
- Release notes
- Release notes describe what changed in a product release: new features, improvements and fixes, written for the people who use or support the product.
- Release planning
- Release planning is the process of deciding which features, fixes and improvements go into each product release, and when each release is expected to ship.
- RICE scoring
- RICE is a prioritization framework that scores an idea by Reach, Impact, Confidence and Effort. The score is Reach × Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort.
- Roadmap change log
- A roadmap change log is a record of what moved on a roadmap between two points in time: what was added, removed or rescheduled, who changed it and why.
S
- Sales enablement
- Sales enablement gives sales teams the content, training and information they need to sell effectively, including what is on the product roadmap and how to talk about it.
- Sprint
- A sprint is a short, fixed period, usually one to four weeks, in which an agile team commits to completing a set of work from the backlog.
- Stakeholder management
- Stakeholder management in product is the work of keeping everyone affected by the product (leadership, sales, support, marketing, customers) informed, aligned and heard.
T
- Technical debt
- Technical debt is the future cost of shortcuts taken in software, such as quick fixes or outdated designs, that make the code harder and slower to change later.
U
- User persona
- A user persona is a short profile of a typical user, describing their goals, responsibilities, frustrations and context, used to guide product decisions.
- User story
- A user story is a short description of a need from the user's point of view, usually written as 'As a [type of user], I want [goal] so that [benefit]'.
V
- Value vs effort matrix
- A value versus effort matrix plots ideas on two axes, the value they deliver and the effort they require, to find quick wins and avoid costly low-value work.
- Voice of the customer (VoC)
- Voice of the customer is the practice of collecting and analyzing what customers say about their needs, problems and experience, so it can inform product and business decisions.
Spend the week on product, not admin
Create a Workspace on the Starter plan and let RightBuild keep the roadmap current while you run the product.
Sign up