An Integrated Approach to Product Strategy (Part 2)
In part 1, I discussed at length the approach and some of the examples on the five components of an integrated product strategy. In part 2, I would like to share ways on how to apply the approach on a regular basis.
Even though there are different flavors of PM roles in different industries, strategic thinking is intertwined with a typical product manager (PM) role. A true PM always owns the strategy for her product(s). Hence, one must apply an integrated approach to the strategy.
There are three distinct steps that lead to successful strategic thinking:
- Think, hypothesize (the 5 components of the strategy) and reason (provide a basis for the hypotheses)
2. Elevate collective thinking by actively managing the discussions
3. Integrate plan of attack with rest of the organization
- Think, Hypothesize and Reason
You just took a new product management role or you have been in a PM role for a while. Either way, you would like to bring more discipline to the product strategy. Most likely, the product or the portfolio you own has some direction and momentum. As the first step, you should quickly understand “how did we get here”. I would start writing details, preferably on paper, structured by the five components of the product strategy:
- What are my product vision and goals?
- How do I define the target market (users)?
