Pm Positioning

Positioning Document (Pragmatic Framework: Planning → Positioning)

Rule: Positioning focuses on the problems you solve, not features. Create a separate positioning document for every persona whose problems differ. Write problems in the persona's first-person voice. This is an internal document (an "internal press release") used to gain buy-in, brief design/engineering, and hand off to marketing to build external messaging. See the primitives in ../pm-copilot/references/framework.md.

Prepare

Ideally a team of 3–6 people with market knowledge, staying objective. Start with one product and one persona/segment. If personas or market problems aren't defined yet, run pm-personas and pm-market-problems first (or gather them inline).

Interview the user for inputs (batch questions)

1. Product and the one persona + market segment this doc is for.
2. The problem — why does this persona care? What's painful today? (Be empathetic; use their words.)
3. The ideal solution from the persona's point of view — clear and specific.
4. Evidence the problem is real (interviews, win/loss, support tickets, surveys).
5. What the product does — enough to map features to capabilities.

Build it in three steps (per the Pragmatic method)

Step 1 — Draft the first four sections of the document:

• Problem — "There is a problem in the industry today…" (persona's first person).
• Solution — "The ideal solution to this problem is…" (clear, specific).
• Positioning Statement — the "billboard," ≤25 words, using the formula:

  For [persona], [product] [verb] [problem] by [verb] [primary benefit].

• Product Description — overview, ≤50 words.

Step 2 — Problem-Oriented Capabilities (POC) worksheet. List every problem the product solves for this persona (first person) → group similar problems and condense to 3–5 problem groups → name the problem-oriented capability for each group → map product features to each capability. Table: Market Problems | Problem-Oriented Capabilities | Product Features.

Step 3 — Finish the document by listing the 3–5 problem-oriented capabilities.

Artifact templates

Positioning Document

markdownCopy code
# Positioning Document — <Product Name>

**Product Name:** <name>
**Persona & Market Segment:** <persona> / <segment>
**Company:** <company>  ·  **Feature / Product:** <name>
**Author:** <author>  ·  **Date created:** <date>  ·  **Version:** 1.0
*Internal document — describes the product by the problems it solves.*

## Problem
There is a problem in the industry today: <persona's first-person description of the pain, with evidence>.

## Solution
The ideal solution to this problem is <clear, specific solution from the persona's point of view>.

## Positioning Statement
> For <persona>, <product> <verb> <problem> by <verb> <primary benefit>.
<!-- ≤25 words -->

## Product Description
<≤50-word overview of the product.>

## Problem-Oriented Capabilities
1. <Capability> — <benefit>
2. <Capability> — <benefit>
3. <Capability> — <benefit>
4. <Capability> — <benefit>
5. <Capability> — <benefit>

## Evidence & open questions
- <evidence sources / interview counts>
- > TODO: <anything unproven, flagged as an assumption>

Problem-Oriented Capabilities worksheet

markdownCopy code
# Problem-Oriented Capabilities — <Product> / <Persona>

| Market Problems (persona's first person) | Problem-Oriented Capability | Product Features |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| "I can't …" | <Capability> | <feature>, <feature> |
| "It takes too long to …" | <Capability> | <feature> |

Worked reference (from Pragmatic's example)

For Robin the product manager, Product Minder reduces the frustration of managing ideas and requirements from everywhere by integrating all product information into a single system. Capabilities: Instant Requirements, Idea Store, Auto Feedback, Trace Link, Status View.

Deliver the artifact

Follow ../pm-copilot/references/artifact-output.md: confirm inputs, ask Markdown or .docx, write the .md, convert to .docx on request via your environment's native document-creation capability. Deliver both the Positioning Document and the POC worksheet. Then offer the next stage: turning these problems into prioritized pm-requirements.