Why your Users don't care
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Dear Reader,
One of the most powerful ways to spot and stop Alibi Progress is to start treating our practices like products.
This means clearly defining three elements:
The question then becomes: "For whom is this way of working trying to solve what problem, and how would we know it was solved?" instead of "Are we implementing this practice correctly?"
In many companies, there's a tendency to take the CEO's ideas and repackage them in a Business Model Canvas, so they look like a "proper strategy." That's textbook Alibi Progress.
To make Product Strategy truly valuable, articulate its value for you. I define its value like this:
"For product teams and stakeholders, Product Strategy helps intentionally say yes or no to opportunities. We know it's successful when most team efforts align with the strategy and teams proactively decline misaligned requests."
Let's unpack this value statement:
For your audience (product teams and stakeholders):
For the problem you're solving (saying yes/no to opportunities):
For your success measures (aligned efforts and declined misaligned requests):
Remember: You're not a better product manager because you filled out a strategy template correctly. You're better when you can confidently say no to opportunities that don't fit your strategy and yes to those that do.
Next week, I will share the practical benefits of treating OKRs like a product.
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Thank you for Practicing Product,
Tim
Join me for an engaging roundtable conversation about pragmatic and practical OKRs at this year's ProductLab Conf> on September 18 in Berlin, Germany.
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As a Product Management Coach, I guide Product Teams to measure the real progress of their evidence-informed decisions.
I focus on better practices to connect the dots of Product Strategy, Product OKRs, and Product Discovery.
1 tip & 3 resources per week to improve your Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery practices in less than 5 minutes.
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