October 2026 · 10 min read · 39 skills, free

Claude Opus 5.5 for Product Managers: 39 Claude Skills to Run the Whole Product Cycle

You set Claude up first — a product project, a dated context file, connectors with the writes off, routines that only draft. Then frame the question, discover the evidence, decide, build and ship, communicate the call, and run the week.

01What these skills are

The product cycle, as installable Claude skills

This is Claude for product managers, running the whole cycle: the project set up so answers stop being generic, the question framed, the evidence gathered, the call made and defended, the work specced and shipped, and the week run.

The skills follow the cycle in seven phases, and each phase hands a named artifact to the next.

The red line: Claude reads your tools, drafts the work and runs the routines. You talk to the customers, make every call, and press send.

Each skill teaches one named, checkable method, with a fixed output template and the next skill to run. No made-up numbers, quotes, customers or sources: a missing figure is marked unknown.

The pack uses what Claude can actually do for a product manager: specs in Claude Docs, decks in Claude Slides, prototypes in Claude Design, and connectors that read your stack with the write actions kept off.

The 39 are grouped into the seven phases, and each one gives full value on its own.

Download all 39 skills

One zip: ready-to-install skill zips, readable SKILL.md files, and the sources behind every method. Free, no signup. The same 39 skills live in our open repo, if you would rather read them before you install them.

Download the zip Browse on GitHub

Install in Claude Code

Two lines, and every skill in the pack loads at once.

/plugin marketplace add polar-bear-org/claude-skills
/plugin install opus-for-product-managers-pack@polar-bear-skills

Using Claude on the web instead? Download the zip above and upload each skill from its install folder under Customize → Skills.

02The catalog

The 39 skills you get

The set follows the product cycle, in seven phases: setting Claude up and connecting it, framing the question, discovering the evidence, deciding, building and shipping, communicating the call, and running the week.

1 · Set up and connect

Set Up the Product Project

Use when: Every chat starts with “so, our product is...” and answers stay generic
Output: Project instructions, knowledge list (load, link, keep out), five test prompts

Write the Product Context File

Use when: Claude writes for users you do not have, or remembers last quarter's priorities
Output: Dated context file with owners, memory rules, Topics audit

Turn a Repeat Task Into a Skill

Use when: You paste the same long prompt every Friday and it still drifts
Output: Skill draft, three test inputs from past work, before and after check

Plan Your Connectors

Use when: You want Claude to read your tools but not change them by surprise
Output: Stack map, read and write actions, writes kept off, setup order, first-run tests

Schedule a Routine Safely

Use when: You want the Friday work to run without you, and never post as you
Output: Scheduled task spec, connectors kept and removed, draft-only rule, first-run review

2 · Frame

Frame the Problem

Use when: A leader asks to “fix retention” and nobody knows what decision is due
Output: One testable question, the decision it feeds, owner, scope, criteria, deadline

Read the Product's Health

Use when: You are new to the product or about to plan
Output: Sourced, dated read of usage, quality, revenue signals and feedback, unknowns

Map the Stakeholders

Use when: Last week's sign-off was reopened by someone you never mapped
Output: Who decides, influences and can block, by role, and how to involve each

Build the Issue Tree

Use when: The question is big and the team argues about where to start
Output: Sub-questions that do not overlap and cover the question, data per branch

Draft the Hypotheses

Use when: Discovery has no shape and data piles up without a point
Output: Answer-first guess per branch, what would kill it, test, ranked list

Plan the Discovery

Use when: You have two weeks between sprints to learn enough to decide
Output: Time-boxed workplan, method and owner per hypothesis, decision checkpoint

3 · Discover

Synthesise Customer Calls

Use when: Twelve recorded calls sit in the notes tool and the spec is due
Output: Themes with linked quotes, contradictions, counts by segment, next questions

Map the Competitors

Use when: You hear about a competitor launch from sales, a week late
Output: Sourced, dated landscape table, where you differ, optional weekly watch

Size the Market

Use when: Leadership asks “how big is this?” and any number becomes the plan
Output: Top-down and bottom-up ranges, sourced assumptions, the gap explained

Segment Customers by Needs

Use when: “Our users” means four groups and the roadmap serves none well
Output: Segments by job and circumstance, size signal, current alternative, needs

Analyse the Usage Data

Use when: You wait three days to learn whether a feature is used
Output: Answer with query, definitions, cleaning log, charts, caveats

Run a Deep Research Brief

Use when: You need the market read by Thursday, with claims you can trace
Output: Research brief, cited report, confidence per finding, still-unknown list

4 · Decide

Generate Distinct Options

Use when: The only options are the CEO's idea and a smaller version of it
Output: Three to five options that differ in kind, do nothing included, bets and costs

Model the Scenarios

Use when: One forecast line is in the plan and everyone knows it is wrong
Output: Base, upside and downside per option, drivers, early signals

Score the Options

Use when: The decision meeting turns into who argues loudest
Output: Weighted criteria agreed first, evidence per score, weight sensitivity

Build the Business Case

Use when: Finance asks for the return and the numbers are visible guesses
Output: One-page case, confirmed figures apart from assumptions, ranges

Red-Team the Plan

Use when: The plan looks finished and nobody has argued with it yet
Output: Case against, pre-mortem story, counter-evidence, what to change now

Write the Recommendation

Use when: You have the analysis and need a call, not another discussion
Output: Recommendation first, reasons, rejected options, risks, the ask, owner

5 · Build and ship

Sequence the Roadmap

Use when: The recommendation is approved and everything wants to be “now”
Output: Now, next, later board, cost of delay order, not-on-the-roadmap list, exec cut

Write the Spec in Claude Docs

Use when: The spec lives in five chats and engineers read none of them
Output: Answer-first spec, testable requirements, open questions with owners

Prototype in Claude Design

Use when: Leadership saw a flashy demo and expects yours by Friday
Output: Clickable prototype, layout options, edge states, test brief

Set Up Claude Code as a PM

Use when: You need to know how a feature really behaves before you promise
Output: Product folder, read-only setup, feature explainer with file references

Define the KPIs

Use when: The feature ships next month and nobody has defined success
Output: Outcome metric, leading and lagging indicators, baseline, target, guardrails

Read the Experiment Result

Use when: The test ended and everyone reads the dashboard differently
Output: Readout with interval, guardrails, sample ratio check, ship, iterate or stop

6 · Communicate

Write the Executive Summary

Use when: Your work is strong and invisible past the first screen
Output: One page, point first, three supported points, the ask, the risk

Write the Leadership Memo

Use when: A big call needs more than bullets and basics keep being relitigated
Output: Narrative pre-read for one decision meeting, read in silence first

Build the Deck in Claude Slides

Use when: The review is tomorrow and the doc is already done
Output: Action-title storyline, deck, speaker notes, numbers matched to the doc

Prepare the Hard Questions

Use when: The review is in two days and the pet feature will come up
Output: Questions by role, short answers with evidence, numbers to have ready

Run the Decision Meeting

Use when: Meetings end with “let's take this offline” and nothing is decided
Output: One-decision agenda, DACI roles, pre-read, decision record after

7 · Run the week

Build the Morning Brief

Use when: The first hour goes on opening twelve tabs
Output: Daily brief of what needs you, a “since date” mode after time off

Triage This Week's Feedback

Use when: Feedback sits in four tools until a customer escalates
Output: Tagged feedback log, new against known themes, reply drafts

Prepare the Weekly Update

Use when: Two hours every Friday on an update people skim in seconds
Output: Friday draft, headline, at risk, asks, one cut per audience

Prep for the Meeting

Use when: Back-to-back meetings and you walk into the next one cold
Output: One-page brief, decision wanted, what each role cares about, open actions

Wrap the Week

Use when: The week ends and Monday starts from zero again
Output: Done against planned, decisions to log, open loops, context file edits

03How to use it

Pick the workflow that matches your week

Start with the setup phase, even when the question is urgent. After that, bring the decision that is due this week and open the phase that matches it.

Set up first

Before the first analysis, so answers stop being about a generic product.

Set Up the Product Project
Write the Product Context File
Plan Your Connectors

Frame the question

A problem that needs one testable question.

Frame the Problem
Build the Issue Tree
Draft the Hypotheses
Plan the Discovery

Gather the evidence

You need themes, competitors, size, segments and usage before the call.

Synthesise Customer Calls
Map the Competitors
Size the Market
Segment Customers by Needs
Analyse the Usage Data

Make the call

The evidence is in and a recommendation is due.

Generate Distinct Options
Score the Options
Red-Team the Plan
Write the Recommendation

Build it

The call is made and the work has to be specced and shipped.

Sequence the Roadmap
Write the Spec in Claude Docs
Prototype in Claude Design
Define the KPIs

Carry it into the room

The decision has to be made, and defended, in a meeting.

Write the Executive Summary
Build the Deck in Claude Slides
Run the Decision Meeting

Close the week

Friday, and what changed has to go back into the context file.

Wrap the Week
Write the Product Context File

04Setup guide

Install it in five minutes

In Claude Code · two lines

/plugin marketplace add polar-bear-org/claude-skills
/plugin install opus-for-product-managers-pack@polar-bear-skills

In Claude.ai or Claude Desktop · seven clicks

Download the pack, then open Settings
Unzip the pack: its skills folder holds all 39 skills. In Claude, click your name at the bottom left, then Settings.
Download the zip
Open Skills and click Add
Under Customize, choose Skills. Click Add, then Upload a skill.
Drop in a skill file
Drag the skill's file into the box, or click to browse. You can add several at once.
Pick the skill from the pack
In the pack folder, open skills, then the skill you want, and select its SKILL.md — pmc-set-up-product-project is a good first one.
Check the preview and upload
Claude shows the skill's name and what it does. Click Upload.
Make sure it is switched on
The skill opens on its own page. Its toggle should be on.
Try it in a new chat
Type / and the skill's name, then say what you need.

Then try one

Run pmc-set-up-product-project for [product]. What I have so far: [paste it here]

Run pmc-frame-the-problem on the decision due this week: [paste the context here]

Run pmc-synthesise-customer-calls on these call notes: [paste them here]

Lantern for product managers

Turn your sprint notes into a week of posts

Lantern drafts a week of posts from your notes and call transcripts, in your voice. You review them and publish the ones you like.

100 free credits, about ten posts. No card needed.

Try for free

05Quick reference

Where to start

Your situation	Skill to run
Claude does not know your product?	Write the Product Context File
Need to know what Claude can read, and what it must not change?	Plan Your Connectors
A leader asked a vague question?	Frame the Problem
Need to know who actually decides?	Map the Stakeholders
Need to know what customers are really telling you?	Synthesise Customer Calls
Need to know whether anyone uses the feature?	Analyse the Usage Data
Need to say how big the opportunity is?	Size the Market
Need to pick an option and defend it?	Score the Options, then Write the Recommendation
The review is tomorrow?	Build the Deck in Claude Slides
Your Fridays disappear into the update?	Prepare the Weekly Update

06Standards

The quality bar

Every skill in the pack holds the same standard, the one we hold when we run our own product:

Answer first, method named: the answer is on the first line, and every skill names the method it applies, so you can check that it was applied
No invented facts: a missing figure is marked unknown, confirmed figures are kept apart from assumptions, and every figure carries its source and date
Evidence you can open: every customer quote links to the call or ticket it came from, and each draft ends with a check — numbers traced, quotes linked, sources opened, padding cut
Work is scored, people are not: options are scored on criteria agreed before any scoring, and customer personal data never goes into memory, the context file or a deck
Read only, draft only: connectors stay read-only unless you turn one write on for one task, and scheduled routines draft and never send
A named role decides: the decision and the send stay with a named role, and legal or regulatory questions go to a qualified adviser instead of being answered
The red line: Claude reads your tools, drafts the work and runs the routines — you talk to the customers, make every call, and press send

07FAQ

Questions people ask

What is in the Claude Opus 5.5 for Product Managers pack?

39 Claude skills that follow the product cycle in seven phases: set up and connect, frame, discover, decide, build and ship, communicate, and run the week. Each skill teaches one named method, with a fixed output template and the next skill to run.

How do I install these Claude skills?

In Claude Code, two lines install all 39 at once. In Claude.ai or Claude Desktop, download the zip, open Settings, Skills, Add, and upload the skills you want. Either way it takes about five minutes.

Do I need Claude Code to use them?

No. The skills work in Claude.ai, Claude Desktop and Claude Code. In the app you upload them yourself; in Claude Code one command installs the whole pack.

Do the skills work with ChatGPT or other assistants?

They are built as Claude Skills, and installing them is a Claude feature. Each one is a plain Markdown file, so you can read it and reuse the method elsewhere, but it will not load and trigger by itself outside Claude.

Will Claude make the product calls for me?

No. Claude reads your tools, drafts the work and runs the routines. You talk to the customers, make every call, and press send. Connectors read your stack with the write actions kept off.

Is the pack free?

Yes. It is free to use inside your company and in client work, and not for resale. There is no signup: the download and the install command are on this page.

08Who made this

Lantern, by Polar Bear

These skills were written by Polar Bear, a people ops consultancy that runs its own company on Claude. The pack is free, and the same skills are open on GitHub.

Lantern is Polar Bear's content workspace. It turns your notes, documents and call transcripts into drafts for LinkedIn and other networks. You review them and publish the ones you like.