The Product Cycle refers the set common product design artifacts that inform each other throughout the sofware development and operational lifecycle. Common design artifacts capture information about user needs and business contexts that inform iterative development cycles.
A set of collaborative, structured artifacts that act as the conceptual interface between evolving user and business contexts and the operational reality of software in production — centered on a Product Backlog, facilitated by the Product Manager.
Service blueprints, journey maps, and shared boards are invaluable for alignment — but as pictures and prose they rarely yield structured information that digital systems can act on. By leaning into the data objects these artifacts imply, we unlock modeling and automation that enable better Co‑Design across teams and organizations. As more organizational functions become software, these structured artifacts integrate directly with continuous integration pipelines.
Most software efforts move through the same essential steps — with more or less explicitness. Keep them lightweight, connected, and reflexive — changes in one artifact should inform the others. At the center is the Product Backlog, with the Product Manager as facilitator and point person aligning the product with users’ and business needs.
Start with user needs. Observe behaviors and goals, then group similar patterns into personas. Keep them brief, evidence‑based, and actionable.
For each persona, describe concrete scenarios: triggers, steps, and desired outcomes. These stories clarify scope and later become acceptance criteria.
List the domain nouns (concept inventory) and their relationships; distill them into a structured data model that software and reports can rely on.
Rough first: flows, navigation, and key screens. Then refine layouts and states. Make the path clear before polishing details.
High‑fidelity screens with components, states, and accessibility in mind. Keep parts reusable and consistent.
Ship small changes often. Automate checks. Test with users. Measure what happens and feed learning back into the backlog.
The Product Cycle provides deliberate surface area to assimilate useful information and signals:
These inputs inform iterative work that is captured in the Product Backlog in a common, repeatable way.
And repeat — Treat the cycle as a loop. Each cycle is an opportunity to refine understanding about users, needs, and product behavior.
Development work is expressed as user stories with clear user value and acceptance criteria that define an objective Definition of Done. Stories become automated tests; implementations follow the assertions. The Product Manager facilitates and serves as the point person for aligning the product with users’ and business needs — coordinating task information and work the way the team sees fit.
# User Story
As a program manager,
I want to capture feedback on a form,
so that I can measure service quality.
# Acceptance Criteria
- Given a published form,
When a visitor submits all required fields,
Then the response is persisted and visible in reports.
# Test (pseudo)
it('persists valid submissions and updates reports', () => {
publish(form)
submit(validSubmission)
expect(db.responses.last()).toMatch(validSubmission)
expect(report.count).toBeGreaterThan(0)
})When artifacts are structured as data, CI can enforce and automate them.
More organizational functions are software; software is the medium.
Design artifacts become most useful when they’re continuously updated to reflect evolving thought, design, and system architecture — like a garden that needs regular tending, pruning, and nourishment.
Create a simple, living Product Cycle for your team:
The Product Cycle describes a repeatable cycle; a meta-framework iterative product design. By considering how user needs inform the data model and the interaface design; The Product Cycle is reflexive, living system of artifacts centered on a Product Backlog, with a Product Manager as facilitator and point person aligning the product with users’ and business needs.