User Research Synthesis

Insights

Interpret the themes. What do they mean for the product? An insight connects observed behavior to an underlying need or motivation.

Format: "[Observation] suggests [user need/motivation], which means [implication]."

Product Implications

Concrete recommendations for what to explore, validate, or build — ranked by confidence:

• High confidence (multiple sources, strong signal): act on this
• Medium confidence (one source or weak signal): validate before acting
• Low confidence (single data point or speculative): monitor, don't act yet

Open Questions

What did the research not answer? What would the next research round need to resolve?

Constraints

• Separate observation from interpretation — label which is which
• Do not recommend specific solutions — that is the PM's job; stop at implications
• Flag any data that appears anomalous or that contradicts the dominant pattern
• If the input is too sparse to draw conclusions, say so and specify what additional data is needed

File Output

Save the document to: product-documentation/research/

Filename format: YYYYMMDDTHHMMSSZ-<short-description>.md Example: 20260226T143000Z-onboarding-research-synthesis.md

Use the current UTC timestamp and a 2–4 word kebab-case description of the research topic.

File Output

Save the completed document to:

product-documentation/research/YYYYMMDDTHHMMSSZ-<short-description>.md

Example: product-documentation/research/20260226T143000Z-onboarding-interview-round2.md

Use the current UTC timestamp and a 2–4 word kebab-case description of the research source or topic.