Where did this handbook come from?

Product management can be a vague profession, unclear to those of us doing it and misunderstood by our colleagues. Some aspects of our role may be legitimately difficult to write about but a lot of our knowledge is suitable to be made explicit through documentation. The first version of this handbook was created by Scott Colfer as an attempt to document the role of product management for the Ministry of Justice. This white label version has been created shared by Scott to see if the handbook has value for other government digital services.

Context is everything. This handbook is intended to help us understand what product management looks like within public services - rather than claiming to describe the entire product management profession.

Product management is a big topic. This handbook is meant to be the beginning of a conversation, not the final word - it’d be great if this handbook looked different a year from now because we have used it, tested it, and improved it based on our experiences.

The main gaps in this version are more detailed guidance for senior product managers and lead product managers, along with more work to link directly with the capabilities and levels of mastery required of our profession

Sharing is important. Much of this handbook is based on the work of others and their willingness to share, so it is important that we do the same. Hence publishing this handbook in the open.