Why you don’t get Value from your Product Strategy

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PUBLISHED

Sep 6, 2024

READING TIME

4 min & 26 sec

Dear Reader,

It’s tempting to focus the start of your strategy creation on a framework or by-the-book advice. Have you filled out the canvas? Cool! Does it meet all the "Good Strategy" criteria? Great—let’s move on.

But that’s a pattern of Alibi Progress: prioritizing technical correctness over everyday value. Whenever Product Strategy feels like a tick box exercise –– either for management or from a thought leader's definition of “how to do it right” –– your chances of experiencing the actual value of Product Strategy go down.

While your company may agree on the purpose of product strategy, the approach can fall short. From my experience, three key attributes determine the value of your Product Strategy.

Decisive: Product Strategy needs to be a legitimate choice

Valuable Product Strategy gives teams clarity on what to say yes and no to by making explicit choices across the different components of Strategy. It defines audiences, problems, differentiation, and more that are the best bet to succeed, and is therefore explicit about whom and what not to focus on. Valuable Product Strategy is decisive.

Layered: Product Strategy needs to connect to Company Strategy

Valuable Product Strategy helps teams avoid being pulled in different directions by ad hoc priorities or requests from other teams. Its choices sit within the constraints of the company strategy, which informs its boundaries and leverages the strengths the company has already established. Valuable Product Strategy is layered.

Executable: Product Strategy needs to link to your Progress

Valuable Product Strategy is tangible enough to be understood and executed by all team members and stakeholders without needing an offsite or workshop. It synthesizes the clear choices into formats and metrics that guide decision-making. Valuable Product Strategy is executable.

To be clear, this is not a checklist. Just because you apply tactics that connect to these attributes does not mean you’re “doing Strategy right.” Instead, think of it this way: Inspecting and adapting your Strategy through the lens of these attributes increases your chances of it being useful for your work.

What unites all of these attributes is that they prioritize context over correctness. The components you must choose depend on a team's position and composition. What exactly provides enough linkage to the company level or what format and goals are required for synthesis and execution is relative. These attributes can help a team adjust their position and decisions based on context instead of an absolute definition of "what good looks like."

HOW TO PUT THIS THEORY INTO PRACTICE

What does your Strategy allow you to say no to? You don't have a strategy if you can't name anything you wouldn't do (segments, problems, or offerings).
Can you connect up? Look for the directional connection of your strategy priorities to the company strategy. Do you serve the right sub-segment of the larger market? Do you use differentiators the company has mastered?
How would you know you succeeded? Imagine the end state of your strategy choice and how you could measure how you achieved it. These need to be your measures for checking progress.

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

PS.: I partnered with airfocus to bring the first version of a Discovery template to their newly launched Expert Template Library.

How to Dive Deeper into Product Strategy

Learn how I helped companies like Chrono24 hone their Product Strategy practices. I closely work with product organizations through workshops and coaching to introduce and adapt Product Strategy.

Learn more about my Workshops and Coaching

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