How to Streamline Your Product Team’s Workflow
If you’re a Product Leader whose organization is on a journey to become Product-led, this article is for you.
My goal is to “put the Productivity into Product” by helping your organization turn theory into practice while defining your Product Process in a way that makes it effective and repeatable.
The Problem with Traditional Guidance
Product Managers often work with software tools like Aha!, Jira, or Productboard to document their work, yet these tools are rarely configured to truly support them. Instead, Product Managers are typically handed a slide deck, Confluence page, or Notion document detailing how they should structure epics, write user stories, or define success criteria. While well-intended, this approach is flawed.
- Product Managers may forget to reference the documentation when creating an epic or other artifacts.
- Guidelines frequently evolve, but not everyone is working from the latest version.
- Inconsistent artifacts emerge because each Product Manager applies the guidance differently.
- Time is wasted searching for instructions rather than focusing on crafting high-quality content.
This scattered approach places an unnecessary cognitive burden on Product Managers. Rather than enabling them to focus on customer needs and strategic problem-solving, it forces them to think about the structure of their work — something that should be automated and embedded within their tools.
The Case for Dummy-Proofing Your Product Work Management Software
The best way to ensure consistency and reduce friction in the product development process is to make your product work management software dummy-proof. This means structuring the tool itself to guide Product Managers in producing high-quality artifacts with minimal effort.
Here’s how:
Create Custom Fields for Key Elements
Instead of leaving it up to each Product Manager to remember what an epic should include, create dedicated fields for essential components like:
Job-to-be-Done (JTBD): Clarifies the customer need.
- Problem Statement: Defines the core issue being solved.
- Solution Description: Outlines the proposed approach.
- Customer Benefits: Details how users will benefit.
- Measured Outcomes: Establishes success metrics.
By explicitly requiring this information, you remove ambiguity and ensure that every epic is structured correctly.
Use Tooltips for In-Context Guidance
Product Managers should not need to leave their workspace to find explanations. Add tooltips or inline descriptions that define what each field is for and provide examples of good inputs. This ensures that guidance is always available, eliminating the need to search for outdated documentation.
Pre-Fill Content Templates
Where possible, use default text in fields to provide a starting point. For example, the Problem Statement field could include a template like:
“[Customer] is experiencing [pain point] because [reason]. This results in [negative impact], and solving it will lead to [desired outcome].”
This small step dramatically reduces the effort required to structure artifacts correctly.
Automate Validation and Reminders
Set up validation rules to prevent incomplete artifacts. For instance, an epic cannot be marked “Ready for Development” unless all required fields are filled out. Additionally, automated reminders can prompt Product Managers to update key fields when necessary.
Only Require Essential Fields and Hide Unnecessary Ones
When configuring your software, ensure that Product Managers only need to fill in fields that are absolutely necessary — especially at the time of epic creation. Too many required fields can slow down the process and create friction. Keep the interface clean by hiding non-essential fields and surfacing them only when they become relevant.
Ensure Uniformity Across the Team
By configuring your work management software to enforce consistent inputs, you prevent the common issue of different Product Managers following different guidelines. This results in more structured artifacts, making it easier for Engineering, Design, and Leadership to consume and act upon product documentation.
The Benefits: Less Thinking, More Doing
By integrating guidance directly into the tools Product Managers use every day, you free them from unnecessary cognitive overhead. Instead of wasting time wondering what to include in an epic or searching for the latest guidelines, they can focus on:
- Writing high-quality, strategic artifacts.
- Crafting better problem statements and solutions.
- Collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams.
- Delivering impactful products with greater efficiency.
Making your product work management software dummy-proof isn’t about dumbing down the work — it’s about removing friction and allowing Product Managers to do their best thinking without getting bogged down by process minutiae. When the structure is built into the tool, great product work happens naturally.
Final Thought
Your product management process is only as strong as the systems supporting it. By embedding structure and guidance directly into your tools, you can create a high-functioning team that produces consistently great results — with less effort and greater impact.
If you’re looking for guidance in building effective product processes, I’d love to chat. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.
