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Product manager / PO perspective
Lens: What gets built and why — prioritized backlog, clear acceptance criteria, approved specs, and staging behavior validation.
Phase by phase
| Phase | Your job | Key artifacts | Guides & SOPs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan | Prioritize; business outcome; tier input | Scored backlog item | SOP-001 |
| Define | Approve acceptance criteria & spec intent | Approved OpenAPI + BDD | Planning & ADR specs · SOP-003 |
| Build | Available for spec clarifications — not daily direction | Answered questions in ticket | — |
| Verify | Informed of PR merge; no manual test pass | — | — |
| Release | Staging sign-off (T1/T2 user-facing) | Demo + green synthetics | SOP-006 |
| Operate | Customer comms input on Sev-1/2 | Status page messaging | Incident mgmt |
| Learn | Spec amendments if behavior gap | Updated spec PR | SOP-008 |
Your gates
| Gate | Decision |
|---|---|
| G0 Intake | Priority and readiness for define |
| G1 Define | Co-approve spec with ARCH |
| G3 Release | Staging matches intent (not a QA script — demo + metrics) |
Who you collaborate with
| Role | When |
|---|---|
| Architect | Spec shape, cross-team APIs |
| Scrum Master | Flow blockers on define phase |
| Program manager | Cross-team priority conflicts |
| Developer | Clarify AC — not how to code |
| QA lead | Testability of AC at define time |
Pitfalls (PM view)
| Pitfall | Mitigation |
|---|---|
| Skipping spec approval to "go faster" | G1 blocks implementation |
| UAT meeting instead of staging sign-off | Structured demo + synthetics |
| Changing AC after merge without spec PR | Amend spec first |
| Prioritizing without tier/data classification | SEC/DATA consult on sensitive features |