Imagine you’re a new product manager. What company-specific knowledge do you need? Is there a standard template for positioning or for a business case? Where is it? Once you fill it out, how do you share it and store it? And with whom?

What you need is a product management playbook, a collection of the templates and tools tailored for your organization.

You’ll want to create company-specific versions of all your planning templates including “institutional knowledge” like where templates can be found and stored online, the key contacts in each business area, the standard distribution techniques such as distribution lists and discussion forums.

Here’s a list of fewer than 10:

  • Portfolio roadmap

  • Buyer profiles & positioning

  • Product profile

  • Financial plan

  • Product backlog

  • Marketing backlog

  • Launch plan

  • Competitive battlecards

  • Profitability retrospective

Plus

  • Distribution lists

  • Discussion forums

  • Online locations for storing development, marketing, and sales information

  • Key people you need to know with contact info

The trick is to make sure the procedures and methods are grounded in reality. Some teams create “ideal” processes that don’t work in real life. They tend to favor cross-functional teams from all areas of the organization rather than just a few key decision makers. They prefer perfect information—and who doesn’t? But getting precise information isn’t always possible.

What would you put in your product management playbook?