Product Management Glossary
Clear definitions for the 27 metrics and frameworks every product manager needs to know. Each term links to a deeper guide and, where available, a free interactive calculator.
Showing 27 terms across 6 categories.
SaaS Economics6 terms
MRR multiplied by 12 - the annualised view of subscription revenue used for investor reporting, valuation, and long-range planning.
CAC Payback Period is the number of months it takes to recoup the cost of acquiring a customer from the gross-margin-adjusted revenue that customer generates.
The percentage of customers or revenue lost during a given period, calculated as customers lost divided by customers at the start of that period.
The total sales and marketing spend required to acquire one new paying customer during a given period.
The total revenue a business expects to earn from a single customer account over the entire duration of that relationship.
The predictable, normalised revenue generated from active subscriptions each calendar month, the primary growth signal for subscription businesses.
Prioritization Frameworks5 terms
A lightweight prioritization model scoring initiatives by Impact, Confidence, and Ease - designed for rapid backlog decisions with minimal data requirements.
A 2x2 visual framework that plots initiatives by their potential impact against implementation effort to identify quick wins, major bets, fill-ins, and time wasters.
A customer satisfaction framework that categorises product features as Must-Be, Performance, or Attractive based on functional and dysfunctional survey responses.
A prioritization framework that scores initiatives by Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort to produce an objective ranking of the product backlog.
A customizable evaluation matrix where stakeholders define criteria, assign percentage weights, and score competing options to derive a ranked priority list.
Testing & Validation4 terms
A controlled experiment that exposes two user groups to different product variants to determine which version produces a statistically significant improvement in a target metric.
A customer loyalty metric calculated as the percentage of Promoters (9-10 ratings) minus Detractors (0-6 ratings) on a 0-10 likelihood-to-recommend scale.
A composite measure of how indispensable a product is, anchored by the Sean Ellis benchmark: 40% or more of surveyed users must say they would be "very disappointed" without it.
The minimum number of observations required to detect a true effect at a specified confidence level and statistical power before running a quantitative study.
Strategy & Validation3 terms
A North Star Metric is the single measure a company chooses to represent the core value its product delivers, used to align the whole team on one outcome.
The net financial gain from an initiative expressed as a percentage of its total cost, used to justify product investments and compare competing business cases.
A market-sizing hierarchy: Total Addressable Market (full demand), Serviceable Available Market (reachable segment), and Serviceable Obtainable Market (realistic near-term capture).
Growth & Engagement5 terms
Activation Rate is the percentage of new signups who reach a defined first-value moment, the point where they experience the core benefit of the product.
The percentage of users who complete a desired action at any stage of a funnel, calculated as conversions divided by total visitors multiplied by 100.
A product stickiness metric expressing daily active users as a fraction of monthly active users - indicating how frequently the average user returns each month.
The percentage of customers active at the start of a period who are still active at the end, measured by cohort and tracked over time.
Time to Value is how long it takes a new user to reach their first real value moment after signing up, the point where they experience the core benefit of the product.
Execution & Delivery4 terms
Cycle Time measures the duration from when active work starts to completion; Lead Time measures from when work is first requested to when it is delivered to the customer.
The total elapsed time from when a work item is first requested until it is delivered to the customer, spanning both queue time and active development.
A time-boxed period of focused development work, typically 1 to 2 weeks, used in Agile and Scrum to create a predictable delivery rhythm.
The average number of story points a development team completes per sprint, used for capacity planning and release date forecasting in agile delivery.
Put These Definitions to Work
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