In product development, strategies often seems like mysterious talent, but it can be learned. Today we are gonna use a clear five-step process that focuses on teamwork, understanding people, and having a big vision. As Elon musk says “Innovation needs aspirations beyond problem-solving”.
Where product manager go wrong in product strategy
A common mistake in product management is viewing strategic capability as an innate talent (which is not). Strategic prowess is honed through practice and reflection. Strategy development is a skill accessible to all, given the right framework and mindset.
The five-stage approach to strategy development
Preparation Phase
Preparation is the beginning of a good strategy. It begins with assembling a strategy working group, including representatives from engineering, product, design and data. This group works to create a easy to follow readout deck, creating insights from:
- Meta-analysis of user behavior Analyzing historical website analytics to identify which features users frequently interact with, helping prioritize enhancement.
- The past speaks volumes about the future—analyze patterns, and the needs will reveal themselves.
- Leadership interviews Conducting a brainstorming session with C-suite executives to align on company goals and incorporate their vision into product strategy.
- A shared vision from the top creates a roadmap that everyone can follow.
- Competitive analysis Studying a competitor pricing model and learning an untapped market segment by creating a flexible subscription options.
- To find opportunities, study where others succeed—and where they fall short.
- User observations Learning from customers struggle with complex onboarding during testing leading to a redesigned, more intuitive process.
Great strategies are born where data, leadership, and real-world insights converge.
Strategy Sprints
- The strategy sprint focuses on identifying and analyzing problems. Spanning 3 to 5 days, this phase include:
- Insight sharing: Team member discuss user problems and market insight.
- The best ideas emerge when teams share what they’ve seen, heard, and learned together.
- Problem clustering: Related issues are grouped to identify opportunity areas.
- By grouping challenges, we uncover patterns that point the way to meaningful opportunities.
- Opportunity framing: Problems are reframed positively, encouraging solution-oriented thinking.
- Reframing problems as possibilities transforms obstacles into innovation.
Design Sprint
This phase bridges strategy and execution. Design teams collaborate to visualize strategic pillars through concepts like “how might we” questions and the “winning aspiration” exercise. For example, a privacy initiative at Meta create consumer trust, guiding impactful design choices.
- Context and insights: Summarize the rationale behind the strategy.
- A strategy without context is a journey without a map—ground it in purpose, and the path becomes clear.
- Strategic pillars: Highlight focus areas and exclusions.
- Focus defines strength; knowing what to exclude is as vital as knowing what to pursue.
- Alignment questions: Learning key uncertainties to strengthen team cohesion.
- Clarity grows from asking the tough questions—cohesion follows when uncertainties are resolved.
Rollout Phase
- Effective rollout involves:
- One-on-one discussion: Secure alignment with key stakeholders.
- Workshops: Engage broader teams to gather feedback and refine the strategy.
- Balancing core strategic element with openness to feedback is important.
- Pillars of focus allow companies to explore new frontiers while staying true to their strengths.
The role of strategic pillars
Strategic pillars creates as the backbone of a product strategy, creates a framework for decision making and adaption. For example, at Zynga, three pillars are viral game loops, a task based payment model, and a network cross promotion. This enables Zynga to create within new games genres while maintaining focus.
Consistency in strategy doesn’t limit innovation—it strengthens its foundation.
*Balancing “Small s” and “Big S” strategies *
Small s: Short term strategies addressing immediate challenges within two to three months.
Big S: Long-term, aspirational strategies, enables cultural and technological trends over six months . This creates envisioning diverse futures through exercises akin to creating “concepts cars” in the automotive industry.
*When everyone has a seat at the table early, the path forward becomes clearer and smoother. *
Engage Stakeholders early Involving key stakeholder at the state ensures alignment and builds a shared vision reducing resistance fear. A product team collaborates with sales and marketing during the discovery phase to align on customer needs, preventing misaligned messaging at launch.
What you choose to exclude defines the strength of what you create.
Focus on Exclusions Prioritize what not to include to maintain focus and clarity, avoiding scope creep. A design team decides to exclude complex customization features for a new app, focusing instead on a intuitive, default experience that meets most users needs.
Empathy turns problems into opportunities for meaningful innovation.
Leverage Empathy Understanding users emotions and experiences leads to solutions that relates deeply. Observing a user struggle with accessibility features inspire a redesign that improves usability for everyone., not jut those with disabilities.
Iteration transforms good ideas into great solutions through constant refinement.
Iterate and Test Continuous iteration creates improvements based on real-world feedback, reducing the risk of failure. A startup releases an MVP and iterates based on user feedback, adding only the features that users repeatedly request.
Collaboration thrives when barriers are broken, and ideas flow freely.
Create fast collaboration Faster teamwork across departments to eliminate silos and speedup decision-making. Using real-time tools like Slack, and Figma, a distributed team co-designs a features in hours instead of days, reducing the time to market.
Top comments (0)