What Should Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery Allow You To Do?Dear Reader, It’s tempting to focus the process of practicing Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery on technical correctness. Does the Objective not have a number? Cool! Do you interview one customer per week? Great - Let’s move on. But that’s a pattern of Alibi Progress: prioritizing technical correctness over everyday value. Whenever these ways of working feel like a tick box exercise –– either for management or from a thought leader's definition of “how to do them right” –– your chances of experiencing the real value go down. “I have to write the Product Strategy exactly as stated in the most popular template.” - No, you don’t. “My OKRs have to only be about Outcomes, or I’m not allowed to use them.” - No, they don’t. “I have to interview customers every week directly, or else I’m not doing Discovery and my products will fail.” - No, you don’t. Every choice you make about HOW you work should be in service of helping you and your team experience the core value of a practice. The core value of Product Strategy is enabling a team to confidently say yes or no to opportunities that come their way over the next 6 - 18 months. The core value Product OKRs provide is helping teams measure their progress toward strategic priorities by responding to their everyday decisions. The core value of Product Discovery is to reduce uncertainty regarding problems worth solving and solutions worth building through reliable evidence. If I were an “Anti Product Doctor,” here’s what I would prescribe to any product team to keep them busy with alibi progress: Try to talk to more users to unlock “the one insight” that will make you believe that a problem is worth solving. Rewrite your lagging OKRs after reading another thought leaders' book. Or translate your ambiguous product strategy into another canvas, hoping it will make it more tangible A more (seemingly) counterintuitive way of moving from being stuck to making real progress is to stop digging deeper into the area you're stuck in and look around you to spot opportunities to drag yourself out of your current rut. Focus on connecting the dots you have and on improving the practices that exist, rather than drawing new ones and having to seek connections over again and again. Did you enjoy this one or have feedback? Do reply. It's motivating. I'm not a robot; I read and respond to every subscriber email I get (just ask around). If this newsletter isn't for you anymore, you can unsubscribe here. Thank you for Practicing Product, Tim What did you think of this week's newsletter? As a Product Management Coach, I guide Product Teams to measure the progress of their evidence-informed decisions. I identify and share the patterns among better practices to connect the dots of Product Strategy, Product OKRs, and Product Discovery. |
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This is the last newsletter before my annual summer writing break. I will be back in your inbox on August 17. Have a wonderful summer! ☀️ Product Practice #370 My 2025 Mid-Year Review READ ON HERBIG.CO PUBLISHED Jul 4, 2025 READING TIME 4 min & 06 sec Dear Reader, What I focused on in the first half of 2025 Writing and Editing My Book After a big writing push from February to April, I was able to share the first complete draft of my book Real Progress - How to Connect Product Strategy, OKRs,...
Product Practice #369 Product Discovery Triangulation READ ON HERBIG.CO PUBLISHED Jun 29, 2025 READING TIME 4 min & 47 sec Dear Reader, To get to an informed conviction through Product Discovery, product teams often need to be creative. It can be challenging for Product Discovery collaborators to make real progress, especially when they lack an environment that provides the right amount of guidance without being too constraining for Adaptable Product Discovery.That’s why today’s newsletter is...
Product Practice #368 How a Product Vision Board saved my Strategy READ ON HERBIG.CO PUBLISHED Jun 20, 2025 READING TIME 3 min & 53 sec Dear Reader, I once led a newly formed product team that aimed to develop a product to increase the monetization of a specific user segment. I co-led a long Discovery effort that validated and scoped this product. At one point during our Delivery journey, my boss approached the team while I was on leave and asked them what they were trying to accomplish....