Product Design Templates¶

Quick-reference templates for product design artifacts.

User Story Template¶

## [Story Title]

**As a** [specific user type],
**I want to** [accomplish this goal],
**So that** [I get this value].

### Acceptance Criteria

Given [precondition]
When [action]
Then [result]

### Notes

- [Constraints, assumptions, out-of-scope items]

Job Statement Template¶

When [situation/context],
I want to [motivation/action],
So I can [expected outcome/progress].

Example:

When I have back-to-back meetings all day,
I want to quickly see what's urgent,
So I can handle critical issues without missing important work.

Hypothesis Template (Lean UX)¶

We believe [this capability/change]
Will result in [this outcome]
We will have confidence to proceed when [we see this measurable signal]

Example:

We believe adding a progress indicator to checkout
Will result in reduced cart abandonment
We will have confidence to proceed when we see 10% reduction in payment page exits

Persona Template¶

# [Persona Name]

**Role:** [Job title or role]
**Quote:** "[Core motivation in their words]"

## Background
- [Relevant professional context]
- [Experience level]
- [Team/organization context]

## Goals
1. [Primary goal]
2. [Secondary goal]
3. [Tertiary goal]

## Frustrations
1. [Pain point 1]
2. [Pain point 2]
3. [Pain point 3]

## Behaviors
- [How they work/communicate]
- [Tools they prefer]
- [Habits relevant to your product]

## A Day in Their Life
[Brief narrative of typical day showing context for your product]

Journey Map Template¶

PERSONA: [Name]
SCENARIO: [What they're trying to accomplish]
SCOPE: [Start point] → [End point]

| Phase      | [Phase 1] | [Phase 2] | [Phase 3] | [Phase 4] |
|------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Actions    |           |           |           |           |
| Thoughts   |           |           |           |           |
| Emotions   | 😐        | 😟        | 😰        | 😊        |
| Touchpoints|           |           |           |           |
| Pain Points|           |           |           |           |
| Opportunities|         |           |           |           |

JTBD Interview Guide¶

Opening¶

"I'd love to hear the story of how you ended up using [product]. Can you start from when you first realized you might need something like this?"

Timeline Probes¶

Phase	Questions
First thought	"When did you first realize you needed something different?"
Passive looking	"How did you first hear about alternatives?"
Active looking	"What made you start seriously evaluating?"
Decision	"What made you finally commit?"
First use	"What was your experience when you first used it?"

Forces Probes¶

Force	Questions
Push	"What frustrated you about the old way?"
Pull	"What attracted you to the new solution?"
Anxiety	"What concerns did you have about switching?"
Habit	"What was comfortable about the old way?"

Closing¶

"Looking back, what surprised you most about the whole experience?"

Empathy Map Template¶

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       SAYS                          │
│  "[Direct quotes from research]"                    │
│  "[What they tell others]"                          │
├────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┤
│         THINKS         │           DOES             │
│  Hopes/fears           │  Observable behaviors      │
│  Internal concerns     │  Actions taken             │
│  Beliefs               │  Workarounds used          │
├────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────┤
│                       FEELS                         │
│  Emotions experienced                               │
│  Frustrations                                       │
│  Joys                                               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Story Map Template¶

BACKBONE: User Activities (steps in the journey)
┌───────────┬───────────┬───────────┬───────────┐
│ Activity 1│ Activity 2│ Activity 3│ Activity 4│
├───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┤
│ Story 1.1 │ Story 2.1 │ Story 3.1 │ Story 4.1 │ ← MVP / Walking Skeleton
│ Story 1.2 │ Story 2.2 │ Story 3.2 │ Story 4.2 │ ← Release 1
│ Story 1.3 │ Story 2.3 │ Story 3.3 │ Story 4.3 │ ← Release 2
│ Story 1.4 │           │ Story 3.4 │           │ ← Future
└───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────┘

Reading:
- Horizontal = journey through experience (left → right = time)
- Vertical = priority (top = essential, bottom = nice-to-have)

Experiment Canvas Template¶

## Experiment: [Name]

### Hypothesis
We believe [capability]
Will result in [outcome]
We'll know we're right when [metric]

### Experiment Design
**Type:** [Usability test / A/B test / Fake door / etc.]
**Duration:** [Timeframe]
**Sample size:** [Number of users]

### What We'll Build
- [Minimal artifact 1]
- [Minimal artifact 2]

### What We'll Measure
- [Metric 1]: Currently [X], target [Y]
- [Metric 2]: Currently [X], target [Y]

### Success Criteria
- [ ] [Specific criterion for success]
- [ ] [Specific criterion for success]

### Failure Criteria
- [ ] [What would tell us we're wrong]

### Results
**Status:** [Not started / In progress / Complete]
**Outcome:** [What we learned]
**Next action:** [What we'll do with this learning]

How Might We (HMW) Template¶

Starting from a POV insight, generate HMW questions:

POV: [User] needs [need] because [insight]

How might we...
- [Reframe the insight as a question]
- [Alternative angle 1]
- [Alternative angle 2]
- [Opposite/extreme version]
- [Adjacent problem]

Example:

POV: Busy managers need to spot blockers early because 
     delayed intervention causes cascading delays.

How might we...
- Make blockers visible automatically?
- Reduce time between blocker and awareness?
- Prevent blockers from occurring?
- Make blocker resolution self-service?
- Help teams predict blockers before they happen?