---
title: Product Review Process
description: Free product review process framework for maintaining strategic clarity while shipping at scale. Helps product teams decouple strategic thinking from sprint execution, inspired by Stripe and Airbnb.
slug: product-review-process
---

# Product Review Process

## TL;dr

Companies like Stripe and Airbnb often do use Scrum but they treat Scrum as the execution layer. The product review process is a separate strategic layer that ensures the right things get built, the right way, with the right impact.

> “Companies like Stripe, Airbnb, Shopify, Meta, etc., often use Scrum or Scrum-ish methods (sprints, stand-ups, retros), but they decouple strategic product thinking from sprint rituals.  
> Scrum is for delivery: managing the how and when  
> Product reviews are for decisions: aligning on why and what  
> This is why the product review process exists alongside Scrum, not within it.”

It provides space for strategic thinking, cross-functional feedback, and roadmap discussions — none of which are well-supported by Scrum ceremonies like sprint planning or reviews.

## Product Review

### Stages

| Stage                     | Artifact          | Purpose                                                                   | Next step                                                           |
| ------------------------- | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 1. Kick-off / Opportunity | 1-pager           | Frame the problem, opportunity, or idea. No solution yet.                 | Do discovery. It may be that it doesn't make implementation review. |
| 2. Implementation Review  | PRD               | Share solution direction, get feedback on scope, sequencing, feasibility. | Build                                                               |
| 3. Ship feature           | Ship feature      | Ship feature                                                              | Ship feature                                                        |
| 4. Impact Review          | Impact Assessment | Close the loop. Did it work? What did we learn? How did it go?            | —                                                                   |

### Meeting

-   **Cadence:** Every Wednesday or Thursday (needs to be agreed). Agenda sent out on Monday along with inviting stakeholders.
-   **Open forum:** Any PM or team can bring their current artefact.
-   **Cross-functional:** Can include Design, Engineering Leads, PMs, and optionally stakeholders (Marketing, Ops, etc.)
-   **Flexible agenda:** Each week’s topics depend on which artifacts are submitted
-   **Hosted and organised by Product**. The agenda is sent out at the beginning of the week after weekly team meeting.
-   **Ritualised format:** Each artefact gets 10-15 mins. If longer is needed, let the host know beforehand.

### Why It Works

-   Encourages thinking before building (via 1-pagers)