Free kit
The First 30 Days Stakeholder Map
Everything you need to start a new PM role well: 15 questions, the interview template, and an AI skill that shows where your stakeholders agree, where they don't, and where to start.
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Set up & use
The system I've used across ten years of contracting and dozens of first weeks. It's also the first thing I give every PM I coach. Four parts: the interview template, so every stakeholder gets the same questions. A guide to running each hour the same way. A comparison matrix that lines up every answer, so the agreement and the gaps show up on one page. And a one-page summary you can take to your manager, with no names attached to any disagreement. Your AI builds the last two from your notes.
- 1.
Book the interviews. Six to ten people, an hour each, in your first three weeks.
- 2.
Make a copy of the Google Doc before each call, and type straight into it while you talk.
- 3.
Set up your AI once. Claude or ChatGPT, as a Project or a skill: pick the one you use. Two minutes.
- 4.
Upload each interview: your notes as a PDF, the transcript, or both.
- 5.
Ask for your map. You get the gaps, the evidence that would settle them, and your moves for this week.
How it works
- Part 1: Book the interviews
- Part 2: Take notes in the Google Doc
- Part 3: Set up your AI once
- Part 4: Get your map
Start with questions, not answers
In a new role, the pull is to prove you belong before anyone questions it. So you show up with answers. It's the wrong move, because you don't yet know which questions matter here.
Ask every key stakeholder the same questions instead, then put the answers side by side. The insight comes from the comparison. Where they agree, there's clarity. Where they disagree, that's where you dig.
The same patterns show up again and again. Sales and the CEO have different customers in mind. No two people agree on the biggest pain to solve. Each team measures success differently. And there's always one “fact” that turns out to be someone's bias.
So your first real deliverable isn't a roadmap. It's one page: where your stakeholders agree, and where they don't. That's where you start.
Part 1: Book the interviews
Everyone whose work touches yours. Don't skip the last one.
- 1.Your manager, and their peers.
- 2.Engineering, design, sales, customer success and finance.
- 3.Anyone who has already been promised something. Ask your manager who is expecting something from Product.
Hi [name], I've just joined as [role] and I'm spending my first few weeks learning how the business works from the people who run it. Could I have an hour with you in the next two weeks? I'm asking everyone the same few questions: what matters most to you right now, how you measure success, and how we should work together. No prep needed.Part 2: Take notes in the Google Doc
One copy per person. An hour, in four timed parts. Fifteen questions, each with a note on what to listen for and space underneath, so you can type while they talk. The same order every time, so the answers compare.
The first page tells you how to run the call. The last page takes two minutes straight after it, and it holds what a transcript can't: what you noticed.
- 1.Open with: “I'm asking everyone the same questions so I can see the whole picture.”
- 2.Ask every question, in order. One follow-up per answer at most.
- 3.Don't pitch, defend or agree. You are collecting, not deciding.
- 4.Record and transcribe if they are happy to. Granola, Otter, Zoom, Teams and Meet all work.
Part 3: Set up your AI once
Pick one of four. They all do the same thing, so pick the AI you already use.
A Project is the easiest: it keeps every interview in one place for the three weeks. Download the file, add it to the project, paste one line. A skill suits you if you already use skills. ChatGPT skills need a Business, Enterprise or Edu plan.
| Step | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You use Claude | Claude Project | One file, one line, two minutes. |
| You use ChatGPT | ChatGPT Project | The same, in ChatGPT. |
| You use Claude Code or skills | Claude skill | Upload the zip, or drop it into Claude Code. |
| ChatGPT at work | ChatGPT skill | Business, Enterprise and Edu plans. |
Part 4: Get your map
Ask: “Build my stakeholder map.” You get a visual of every answer side by side, the three widest gaps with the evidence that would settle each one, your moves for this week, the full comparison matrix, and a one-page summary of your findings, safe to take to your manager.
This is a worked example with made-up data. Yours comes back in the same format.
The one rule
Don't resolve a disagreement in your head and move on. Write it down. A gap you have named is a conversation. A gap you have smoothed over becomes your problem six months later.
It's the first thing I give every PM I coach.
Questions people ask
- What questions should a new product manager ask stakeholders?
- Ask every stakeholder the same set, in the same order, so the answers can be compared: their role and what they expect from Product, their priorities, the one outcome that matters most over the next six months, how success is measured, what has already been promised, the biggest problem and opportunity, who the ideal customer is, and what evidence would change their mind about a current priority.
- How long should a stakeholder interview be?
- An hour. Thirty minutes gets you their priorities; an hour gets you why. Split it into an opening, four timed parts and a five-minute close, and ask every stakeholder the same questions in the same order.
- What is a stakeholder comparison matrix?
- A table that puts every stakeholder's answer to the same question side by side, marked by where they agree, partly agree or conflict. It turns a pile of interview notes into a short list of the disagreements worth settling first.
- Can I use AI to analyse my stakeholder interviews?
- Yes. The kit sets up Claude or ChatGPT, as a Project or a skill, to read your notes and transcripts, build the comparison matrix and a visual map, and write a one-page summary with no names attached. It marks unanswered topics as unanswered rather than guessing. Check your company's rules before uploading internal notes, and swap names for roles if in doubt.
- How do I present stakeholder interview findings to my manager?
- On one page, in themes and open questions, never who said what: who you spoke to, what you heard, where people agree, the questions that need settling, what you propose for the next 60 days, and what you need from your manager. The kit includes that format.
- Is it free?
- Yes. The download asks for your name and email, and you also get the weekly Product System newsletter, which you can unsubscribe from at any time.