By Marty Cagan · svpg.com · LinkedIn
Marty Cagan argues that product work has two distinct phases: strategy, where you discover what to build through exploration and customer contact, and execution, where you build and ship it. Many teams fail because they never make the mental shift to execution, so the spec keeps churning and releases slip or quality suffers. Product managers are often naturally inclined toward one phase, so they must deliberately build the other skill. Cagan also suggests running two product versions in parallel, so that strategic creativity has an outlet while the current release is in engineering. The point matters because shipping great products requires both strategic and execution competence.
01Key takeaways
- Treat product work as two phases, discovery first and delivery second, and recognize which one you are in.
- Once engineering starts on a release, stop reopening the spec, because late changes cause churn, slipped dates, and cut features.
- Identify whether your natural instinct is strategy or execution, and deliberately build the other skill.
- Keep a next-release design process running in parallel so creative energy has a productive outlet.
- Absorb new executive requirements into the next release's design rather than disrupting the release in progress.
02Key sections
- Two phases of software projects
- Building software can be split into figuring out what to build, which is driven by strategy and discovery, and then building it, which is driven by execution.
- The mindset shift to execution
- Once engineering starts, the product team must stop exploring new ideas and focus on keeping the team on track, since continued spec changes cause churn.
- Matching your personal strengths
- Strategy-minded people must restrain their creative urges during execution, while execution-minded people must strengthen their strategic and design thinking.
- Running two releases in parallel
- Start design for the next release as soon as the current one enters engineering, giving the innovation engine an outlet and a place to absorb new executive requests.
- Developing both skill sets
- Discipline makes this manageable, and product leaders need strong strategic skills to pick winners and execution skills to deliver them.
03From the post
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04Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.