Chapter 15: Lumen Prompts by PM Role and Responsibility
This chapter organizes Lumen prompts by the work PMs actually do day to day. The goal is to give you a starting prompt for any common PM task, adapted to the Helix example, that you can paste and modify immediately.
The chapter covers eight areas of PM responsibility: discovery, prioritization, experimentation, strategy, stakeholder communication, launch, retention, and crisis response.
Discovery: Understanding What to Build
"We need to run a customer discovery sprint before our Q3 planning."
/lumen:pmf-discovery
Product: Helix — B2B SaaS PM platform
Segments: Team plan (our primary focus this quarter)
Stage: 2,400 MAU, PMF score 58/100 in Team plan from last quarter
Interviews available: 8 transcripts (will add more as we conduct them)
PostHog: connected (90-day cohort)
Key question: We are going into Q3 planning and want to confirm whether the roadmap-to-sprint handoff is still the #1 unmet need for Team plan, or whether something has shifted since our last W1 run.
Constraint: Do not surface any opportunity that requires more than 6 engineering weeks to ship an MVP.
"We want to understand why Org plan users are not expanding."
/lumen:pmf-discovery
Product: Helix
Segments: Org plan only (enterprise, custom pricing)
Current PMF score: 43/100 (borderline CONFIRMED)
Interviews: 3 Org plan interviews — all champions, none were economic buyers
Key question: Org plan accounts are not expanding seats after the initial rollout.
Is this a product limitation, a champion vs. buyer misalignment, or a fit problem with how we sell to the enterprise?
Context: We have no Org plan interviews with IT admins or economic buyers yet.
DiscoveryOS should flag this gap.
Prioritization: Deciding What to Build Next
"We have too many requests and not enough engineering capacity."
/lumen:strategy
Product: Helix
Quarter: Q3 2026
Capacity: 6 engineers, 78 sprint-points available for product work (after SOC 2 commitment)
Current backlog (top 10 items): [paste your backlog items with rough estimates]
PMF signals: Team plan 58/100 · Org plan 43/100
OKR: Weekly Active Teams to 280 (from 190)
Key question: Given this capacity and these OKRs, which items should be in the
committed track, which in likely, and which should be cut?
Flag any items that conflict with each other for capacity reasons.
Constraint: Slack + Jira integration is required for our 3 pipeline Org plan deals.
It cannot be deprioritized.
"We need to decide between investing in the free tier vs. the paid tier."
/lumen:strategy
Product: Helix
Decision needed: Solo plan (free) vs. Team plan (paid) investment for Q3
PMF scores: Solo 29/100 · Team 58/100
Solo plan observations: High volume (20% of MAU), low conversion to Team (3.2%),
high churn to free Notion templates
Team plan observations: Core PMF segment, NRR recovering to 100%
Engineering capacity: 78 sprint-points available
Key question: Should we invest engineering capacity in improving Solo plan
to increase conversion, or double down on Team plan depth
to improve NRR? We do not have capacity for both.
Constraint: Cannot deprecate Solo plan. Any investment in Solo must improve
conversion to Team, not just retention of free users.
Experimentation: Designing and Validating Tests
"We want to run an experiment before committing to a feature."
/lumen:feature
Feature: In-app template library — pre-built roadmap and sprint templates
that new users can apply in one click on their first session.
Target users: New Team plan signups (D0–D7)
Problem: Activation rate (first roadmap_update event in 7 days) is 41%.
We believe friction in creating a first roadmap is the blocker.
Current evidence: EventIQ shows that users who create a roadmap in D0–D3
have 89% D30 retention vs. 43% for those who do not.
Uses AI/ML: No
Constraint: 2 engineering weeks maximum if we decide to build
Key question: Is this worth building, or should we fake-door test it first?
If fake-door, what is the cheapest test design?
"We want to improve activation rate and need to know which experiment to run first."
/lumen:feature
Context: We are trying to improve Team plan D7 activation rate from 41% to 52%.
We have three ideas and limited capacity.
Idea 1: In-app template library (2-week build)
Idea 2: Interactive "first roadmap" guided tour triggered at signup (1-week build)
Idea 3: Triggered email sequence with roadmap setup tips sent at Day 2 (0.5 weeks)
PostHog: connected — we can measure first_roadmap_created event and D7 activation
Uses AI/ML: No
Key question: Which of these three ideas should we test first, and what is the
fastest experiment design to generate a signal within 3 weeks?
Strategy: Quarterly and Annual Planning
"We need to define our North Star metric before the board meeting."
/lumen:strategy
Product: Helix, B2B SaaS PLG
Current North Star: Monthly Active Users
Problem: MAU does not distinguish high-value team workflows from solo use.
Board is comfortable with MAU but we believe it is misleading.
Alternative metrics we have considered:
- Weekly Active Teams (teams with ≥3 members completing ≥1 roadmap update/week)
- Team Activation Rate (new teams completing first roadmap within 7 days)
- Seats under management (total active paid seats across all accounts)
PostHog: connected (8 quarters of data)
Key question: Which metric best predicts NRR and expansion for our current
business model? We need to take one recommendation to the board
with data to back it.
Constraint: Cannot change the North Star until Q3 — OKRs are already set for Q2.
"We are preparing a Series A pitch and need our product strategy documented."
/lumen:strategy
Product: Helix, B2B SaaS
Context: Preparing Series A materials. Need to articulate our product strategy
clearly for investors who will ask about our moat, our North Star,
and our roadmap to $5M ARR.
PMF: Team plan 58/100 (CONFIRMED), Org plan 43/100 (borderline)
NRR: 100% and recovering
Current ARR: ~$516,000 (estimated from MRR)
Key question: What is the product narrative that most accurately represents
our strategic position and our plan for the next 18 months?
Frame it for an investor who will probe on competitive moat
and PMF evidence quality.
Connected MCPs: PostHog, Supabase, Stripe
Stakeholder Communication: Briefings and Updates
"I need to write the product section of the board deck."
/lumen:strategy
Product: Helix
Context: Writing the product section of our Q2 board deck.
The board knows our product but will scrutinize PMF evidence and NRR.
Q2 summary:
- NRR recovered from 89% to 100%
- Shipped roadmap editor fix (resolved Q2 churn cause)
- PMF: Team 58/100 (stable), Org 43/100 (up from 38/100 last quarter)
Q3 plan: Org plan expansion (Slack + Jira integration, SSO, SOC 2 display)
Key question: Draft the product narrative section (500 words max) that explains
what happened in Q2, what we learned, and what we are doing in Q3.
Tone: candid and data-backed. The board prefers facts over optimism.
"I need a weekly product update for my team."
/lumen:status
Context: Preparing a Friday product update for the engineering + design team.
Keep it to 3–5 bullets. Cover: PMF status, last week's experiment results
(if any), this week's priorities, and any gates waiting for approval.
Connected: PostHog, Supabase
Last workflow: W6 Churn Analysis (March 10)
Key question: Summarize what matters most for the team this week in plain language.
No jargon. No more than 200 words total.
Launch: Preparing and Executing
"We are launching a new tier and need to prepare the GTM."
/lumen:launch
Product: Helix
Launch: Org plan (enterprise) to 5 pilot accounts before broad availability
Target date: April 14, 2026
New capabilities: Multi-workspace (50 users), Slack + Jira integration, SSO, SOC 2 Type I
Pricing: $89/seat/month
Sales motion: Sales-assist for Org (new motion — we have been fully PLG)
Target audiences: Engineering VPs, Product Directors, IT admins
Key risk: Our sales team has never run enterprise deals before. We have no playbook.
Key question: What is the readiness score, what are the top gaps, and what do we
need to have in place 2 weeks before the April 14 date?
"We need launch messaging for three different audiences."
/lumen:launch
Product: Helix Org plan
Context: NarrativeEngine focus — we already have the readiness audit from a prior W5 run.
Need messaging for three audiences:
1. Engineering VP (buys the tool for their team)
2. Product Director (champion who requested the tool)
3. IT Admin (approves the tool for security + compliance)
Our key claims:
- SOC 2 Type I (audit March 2026)
- GDPR DPA available
- SSO with SAML 2.0
- Slack + Jira native integration (no Zapier required)
Constraint: All claims must be accurate as of April 14 launch date.
Legal review required before any SOC 2 claim goes to market.
Key question: Draft the one-liner, a 3-sentence value prop per audience,
and the top 3 objection responses for each.
Retention: Improving NRR and Reducing Churn
"I want to find the accounts most likely to churn in the next 30 days."
/lumen:churn
Product: Helix, B2B SaaS
Segment: Team plan and Org plan combined
Connected: PostHog, Stripe, HubSpot
Context: NRR is at 100% and recovering. We want to stay ahead of the next wave
before it happens, not respond after.
Key question: Which accounts are showing pre-churn behavioral signals right now?
Rank them by ARR and renewal date. What is the right intervention
for each tier of at-risk account?
Constraint: Our CS team has capacity for 5 personal outreach calls this week.
Prioritize the interventions that require personal calls vs.
those we can address with automated sequences.
"We want to identify expansion opportunities in our existing customer base."
/lumen:churn
Product: Helix
Focus: Expansion and upsell (not churn — NRR is healthy at 104%)
Connected: PostHog, Stripe, HubSpot
Context: We believe there are Team plan accounts ready to upgrade to Org plan.
Want to identify them before they find the upgrade button on their own
and ask us for a discount.
Key question: Which Team plan accounts show Org plan usage patterns?
What is the estimated ARR expansion opportunity?
What trigger should we use for in-app and sales outreach?
Crisis Response: When Things Break
"Churn just spiked and we do not know why."
/lumen:pmf-recovery
Product: Helix, B2B SaaS
Segment: Team plan
What we know: MoM churn went from 3.1% to 7.4% in 6 weeks. No obvious cause.
What we do not know: Whether this is product, pricing, or competitive.
Data available: PostHog (connected), Stripe (connected), 3 exit interview notes
from HubSpot tickets (all three cite "the product changed")
Timeline: We need a first hypothesis within 24 hours for a leadership call.
Previously tried: Nothing yet — this is our first response.
Key question: What is the most likely cause based on behavioral signals? Who do we call first? What is the fastest experiment to validate the hypothesis?
"A key account is about to churn and we need to make a decision."
/lumen:pmf-recovery
Situation: Synthex Labs ($28,400/yr, 42 seats) has notified us they are cancelling at renewal (April 2 — 8 days from now).
Stated reason: "The roadmap editor broke our process. We moved to Linear."
Our options:
1. Offer a 3-month credit to stay while we fix the roadmap editor
2. Schedule a call and show them the fix we shipped 3 weeks ago
3. Accept the churn and focus win-back efforts on the broader cohort
PostHog: connected (can see their specific account usage)
Key question: What does their behavioral data say about their actual usage? Is their engagement recovering post-fix or are they already gone?
Which option gives us the best chance of keeping this account?
Constraint: We cannot offer more than 3 months of credit without CFO approval.