AIYING in Practice: Product Manager
First Exercise — Framing the Right Problem
(Beginner · 15–20 minutes · For aspiring & practicing Product Managers)
Product Managers don’t fail because of bad execution.
They fail because the problem was framed poorly.
AIYING fixes this before solutions, features, or roadmaps appear.
Step 1 — The Common (Weak) Starting Point
Many PMs start like this:
❌ “Suggest features to improve our app.”
What’s missing:
which user
which problem
what success means
what constraints exist
AI guesses. Teams chase noise.
Step 2 — Apply AIYING Outcome Clarifier
Before asking AI, answer these 5 questions on paper:
1️⃣ Outcome — What decision should this support?
☐ Prioritise features
☐ Validate a problem
☐ Improve a metric
☐ Decide what not to build
✍️ Outcome: _______________________
2️⃣ User Context — Who is struggling, and where?
☐ New users
☐ Power users
☐ Paying customers
☐ Internal teams
✍️ User & situation: ________________
3️⃣ Purpose — Why does this matter now?
☐ Drop in retention
☐ Support complaints
☐ Strategic shift
☐ Competitive pressure
✍️ Purpose: _______________________
4️⃣ Constraints — What must be respected?
☐ Timeline
☐ Engineering capacity
☐ Regulatory / policy
☐ Business goals
✍️ Constraints: ____________________
5️⃣ Success Signal — How will we know this worked?
☐ Metric movement
☐ Reduced complaints
☐ Faster adoption
☐ Clearer decisions
✍️ Success signal: _________________
Step 3 — Your AIYING Ask (One Clear Instruction)
“Help me analyse the core problem causing low retention among new users in our mobile app, focusing on user behaviour and constraints, and suggest 3 problem statements (not features) with clear success metrics.”
✍️ Your version:
Step 4 — Ask AI (Now Use AI)
Paste only your final sentence into AI. ( ChatGPT)
Read the response like a PM:
Is it problem-led or feature-led?
Are assumptions visible?
Does it help you say no?
Step 5 — Reflection (Critical for PMs)
Answer briefly:
Did AI surface a better framing than your first thought?
What assumption became clearer?
What would you validate with users next?
✍️ Insight:
🧠 What You Practised
Problem-first thinking
User-centred framing
Constraint-aware prioritisation
AI as a clarity amplifier, not idea spammer
🔁 Repeat With Real PM Scenarios
Try again with:
Feature request overload
Roadmap prioritisation
Low adoption of a new release
Conflicting stakeholder demands
Same steps. Better product decisions.
🔑 AIYING Rule for Product Managers
If the problem isn’t clear, the roadmap won’t be either.
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