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PMPM Pre-Prompt Checklist

The Pre-Prompt Checklist for PMs

Most PMs jump into a Claude session without loading the context that shapes the output. This checklist covers five things to encode before every session: product identity, user definitions, sprint goal, settled decisions, and working principles. Load these once and the first response is already calibrated to your situation.

PM Pre-Prompt Checklist

Five Things to Load Before Every PM Session

What goes in before the conversation starts determines what comes out. Run this checklist before your next session.

The Five Pre-Prompt Items
1

Product Identity

Write two sentences on what your product does and who it is for. This anchors every Claude response.

2

User Definitions

Name your key user segments. Claude will default to the right persona instead of inventing one.

3

Sprint Goal

State the current sprint goal. Claude will scope suggestions to what your team is shipping this week.

4

Settled Decisions

List decisions already made. This stops Claude from surfacing options your team closed three sprints ago.

5

Working Principles

Add three to five principles about how your team works. Claude will match your style, not a generic template.

What Most PMs Get Wrong

Skipping the sprint goal

Without a sprint goal, Claude optimizes for the ideal solution, not the feasible one. You get great ideas for next quarter.

Treating CLAUDE.md as a one-time setup

CLAUDE.md needs a brief update at the start of each sprint to stay useful. Stale context is worse than no context.

Ignoring settled decisions

The most common time sink: Claude proposes something your team already ruled out. One line in CLAUDE.md prevents it.

The One Thing Most PMs Forget
Reset sprint goal each sprint

Update the sprint goal field at sprint start. A stale goal sends Claude solving last month's problem.

Log decisions after every retro

Anything the team closes goes into CLAUDE.md immediately. Thirty seconds now saves minutes every session.

Paste your voice benchmark

Drop three sentences from your best past PRD into CLAUDE.md. Claude will match the register without being told.

Get the full checklist + template

Key Takeaways

  • 1Add your product's core identity and positioning to CLAUDE.md once so every session starts with the right frame.
  • 2Define your key user segments explicitly so Claude defaults to the right persona without an extra prompt.
  • 3Log your current sprint goal so Claude scopes every suggestion to what your team is actually shipping.
  • 4Document settled decisions to stop Claude from reopening debates your team already closed.
  • 5State your working principles so Claude matches your team's style, not a generic PM template.
template

PM Pre-Prompt CLAUDE.md Template

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