The Claude Code setup I actually run.
I'm a principal PM and I use Claude Code every day at work, backed by 966 memory files. This guide is that setup, page by page, written for teachers, designers, marketers and HR teams as much as for engineers.
New on Product Field Notes: The yes-boss sky
Pick your path
Guides written for the work you already do.
- TeachersLesson plans, quiz questions, rubrics and parent emails.
- DesignersBriefs, heuristic evaluations, research synthesis and prototypes.
- MarketersSocial posts, blogs, email campaigns and ad copy in your brand voice.
- HR teamsJob descriptions, interview questions, onboarding plans and reviews.
- Product managersPM Pilot: status updates and product admin, free and open source.
- Claude in ChromeFrom claude.ai to the extension, next to Gmail and Google Docs.
- Claude in OfficeWord, Excel and PowerPoint, with no plugins or Claude Code needed.
- CertificationThe four Claude certifications: cost, format and passing score.
Start with the foundations
The pages people come back to. CLAUDE.md is the one most read.
CLAUDE.mdThe five things it needs, a worked example, and the mistakes that make Claude ignore half of it.
Memory systemClaude forgets everything when a session ends. This is how you make it remember.
Context windowWhat fills it, how to read /context, and when /compact is the wrong fix.
PermissionsFive minutes of config so you stop clicking Allow on every step.
InstallationMac, Windows or Linux, from zero to a first real prompt.
What is Claude Code?What it does, what it is good at, and whether it is worth your time.Then learn it by doing
New to Claude? Three steps
The guided setup walks you through each one.
- Pick something you wantA task from your own week, not a demo. Claude learns faster from real work.
- Follow the setupInstall, sign in and write a first CLAUDE.md, one screen at a time.
- Paste a prompt, watch it goStart with a prompt that already works and change it once you see the result.
966 memory files later, here is what stuck.
The long read on running Claude Code with a memory that size: what held up, and what I threw away.
Read the essayLatest from Product Field Notes
My Substack, where I publish most weeks: product work, AI in practice, and what broke along the way.
Oct 14, 2026The yes-boss skyMy students all say “I use AI.” They mean three different things, and only one of them keeps the job.
Oct 2, 2026Which customer? Two definitions of doneSales asks whether we built what they asked for. Product asks whether we are serving the true customer.
Sep 26, 2026What not to shipPallab Bhaiya told me the empty solo was by design. It took two decades of busy tabla and years of shipping too much before I heard him.
New guides, when they ship
One email, roughly weekly. CLAUDE.md templates, workflows I actually use, and the cut-for-length stuff that does not make the public guides. One-click unsubscribe.
Or read Product Field Notes, the Substack
Who writes this
I'm Shadman Rahman, a principal product manager. I lead product for student experience and search at Keystone Education Group, and I trained as a designer before moving into product. I started this guide because I kept explaining the same Claude Code setup to colleagues, most of whom don't write code.
More about me