The one where we talk about Product Strategy (Prologue 1:6)
A six article Product Strategy thread made for Product Managers
I’ve been meaning to write more about Product Strategy for a while. I believe it is a really hard topic to try. But actually, the difficulty lies in its importance.
In my past posts, I’ve talked about the main skills required to build a product team and about why product management basics are essentials to lead great products. In them, I’ve always said that having a strategic context is crucial to solve the right problems.
In my career I’ve experienced bad strategy or in better words, the lack of a well designed and communicated strategy. And as I said above, this may be due to the difficulty of accomplishing this crucial point.
I would like to get you to think about it. Do you feel like the things you’re building are the ones needed to achieve your goals? Do you know what the outcomes you’re trying to achieve are? Just go a little bit over the things that go on in and around your workplace.
Don’t get surprised if you are, have been or know someone in the situation where the answers aren’t affirmative. This happens in many companies. Early in my career, I went through it multiple times. It feels as if you’re indeed doing a good job delivering thing after thing, and on occasion, even faster than expected. That’s a common mistake you, your leads and the team can commit. The whole thing is a misconception. The faster and better you create and release isn’t necessary the more earnings you get.
It doesn’t just work to have a production process that fits the team. What you primarily need the most is to understand what to build that delivers the most value for the customer and the business. What you need is a product strategy.
How do we decide what to build is a product strategy. Your strategy is how you’re planning to bring value; it’s deciding which problems to solve to make your vision a reality.
I’ve learned that having a sharp delivery process is important. Yet, having a transparent product strategy is essential. A strategic mindset enables others to make better decisions.
In the following posts, I’ll be sharing with you the things that have to be done well to have a good and aligned product strategy:
