Product Trio
A collaboration model where a PM, an engineering lead, and a designer make product decisions together.
Definition
Coined by Teresa Torres in 'Continuous Discovery Habits,' the Product Trio is a PM, tech lead, and designer working as a peer team on discovery and delivery. Product Ops often supports trios by running discovery rituals, supplying customer research, and standardizing artifacts. The trio model replaces the 'PM as hub' pattern and distributes decision-making.
Example
A product trio at Shopify meets weekly with customers, aligns on the top problem to solve, and runs a 2-week discovery sprint before committing to delivery.
Related concepts
Frequently Asked Questions
Coined by Teresa Torres in 'Continuous Discovery Habits,' the Product Trio is a PM, tech lead, and designer working as a peer team on discovery and delivery. Product Ops often supports trios by running discovery rituals, supplying customer research, and standardizing artifacts. The trio model replaces the 'PM as hub' pattern and distributes decision-making.
Product Trio is also commonly called Three Amigos, Three-in-a-Box. The terms are used interchangeably in most Product Operations contexts.
A product trio at Shopify meets weekly with customers, aligns on the top problem to solve, and runs a 2-week discovery sprint before committing to delivery.
Product Trio is part of the Product Operations vocabulary under the frameworks category. Product Ops leaders use this concept when running planning rituals, setting operating standards, and aligning cross-functional stakeholders.