The Frameworks Toolkit · The Product Manager's Atlas

This is my opinionated index of every framework in the Atlas, the tools I actually reach for, grouped by the job they do. I keep them in one place because the most common framework mistake is not picking the "wrong" one. It is not knowing which job you are doing, so you grab whatever is fashionable and start filling in its boxes as if the boxes were the answer.

▲A framework is a tool, never a box to fill in

Frameworks do not produce decisions. They produce structured arguments. They force your criteria into the open and make your reasoning auditable instead of political. The output of any of these is an input to judgment, not a substitute for it. The moment a team treats "we filled in the RICE sheet" or "we ran a SWOT" as having decided something, the tool has become theater. Use them to force the conversation, then bring taste. And pick a few you will use consistently, because framework-hopping every quarter destroys the one real benefit, which is comparability over time.

#How to read this index

Find the job to be done, then the tool. Many frameworks live in other domains (discovery tools in Customer Insight, strategy tools in Product Strategy), but they are all indexed here so this is the one map you need.

#Prioritize: choosing what to do, and how hard

Framework	One-line job	Home
RICE and Scoring Models	Rank comparable features by Reach × Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort	Strategy
The Impact-Likelihood Matrix	Fast portfolio triage: Home Runs vs Stuff You Shouldn't Be Doing	here
The Kano Model	What kind of value: basic, performance, or delight	here
MoSCoW Prioritization	Scope a release: Must / Should / Could / Won't	here
The Eisenhower Matrix	Personal/team triage by urgency × importance	here
The LNO Framework	How much effort a task deserves once it's chosen	here
The Initiative Pyramid	Organize bets by risk and escalation level	Strategy
Prioritization Frameworks	The meta-note: matching method to decision altitude	Strategy

#Discover: finding what's worth building

Framework	One-line job	Home
Jobs To Be Done	Frame demand around the job, not the demographic	Customer Insight
The Opportunity Solution Tree	Map outcome → opportunities → solutions → experiments	Customer Insight
Build-Measure-Learn and the MVP	Learn cheaply under uncertainty; the MVP is an experiment	here
Hypothesis-Driven Development	Turn beliefs into falsifiable bets with kill criteria	here
Experimentation and A-B Testing	The rigorous read on whether a hypothesis held	Customer Insight

#Strategize: where to play and why you'll win

Framework	One-line job	Home
The DHM Model	Strategy should Delight, be Hard-to-copy, Margin-enhancing	Strategy
The North Star Framework	One value metric + the inputs that move it	Strategy
OKRs and Goal-Setting	Set and track outcome-based goals	Strategy
SWOT and Porter's Five Forces	Classic company/market lenses, and their limits for product	here
The Initiative Pyramid	Risk-tiered initiative planning and escalation	Strategy

#Decide: making the call and shipping it

Framework	One-line job	Home
The 10-50-90 Execution Framework	My execution OS: phases × confidence × roles	Execution
RACI and Decision Rights	Who actually gets to make each call	Execution
Sound Product Decision-Making	One-way vs two-way doors; bias to action	Execution
theScore Product Principles	Pre-made decision rules for the team	here
Writing Good Product Principles	The how-to for authoring your own	here

#Focus: allocating yourself and assessing your craft

Framework	One-line job	Home
The LNO Framework	Match effort to leverage; stop gold-plating overhead	here
The Three Levels of Product Work	Impact / Execution / Optics, and why teams talk past each other	here
The Eisenhower Matrix	Defend Quadrant-2 important-not-urgent time	here
The PM Wheel	Self-assess the shape of your skills	here
The PM Competency Model	The rigorous, leveled competency map	Introduction

#Attribution

I built The Impact-Likelihood Matrix and theScore Product Principles, and The 10-50-90 Execution Framework is theScore's. The rest belong to the people who created them: Shreyas Doshi (LNO and the three levels), Petra Wille (The PM Wheel), Noriaki Kano (The Kano Model), Eric Ries (Lean Startup), Dai Clegg (MoSCoW), Eisenhower/Covey, Humphrey (SWOT) and Porter (Five Forces). I keep the credit for a practical reason and not just a polite one. Borrowed frameworks carry their authors' assumptions, and knowing the source is how you know the limits.

#Continue Reading

Prioritization Frameworks for the deepest single companion: matching method to decision altitude.
The PM Competency Model for the competencies these tools serve.
Sound Product Decision-Making for judgment, the thing no framework replaces.
Myths and Misconceptions for the big one: that a framework decides for you.
Product Management Templates for the fill-in-able artifacts that pair with these tools.