Product Strategy – Overview

Marty Cagan argues that empowered product teams need hard problems to solve, and product strategy is the discipline of deciding which problems matter. He observes that many companies have plenty of features and projects but no real product strategy, leading to wasted effort and weak outcomes tied to roadmap dependence. He defines strategy as the overall approach and rationale for reaching a goal, distinct from tactics. Strategy is hard because it demands tough choices, generating insights from data and customers, converting those insights into team-level action, and managing without micromanaging. The piece frames product strategy as requiring choice, thinking and sustained effort, and previews a deeper look at focus, insights, actions and management.

01Key takeaways

• Check whether your team works from a clear strategy or simply delivers a list of features and projects.
• Accept that focus means choosing a few critical objectives and deliberately dropping the rest.
• Ground strategic choices in analysis of data, customer insight, competitors and emerging technology.
• Assign objectives to specific product teams with enough context for them to solve the underlying problems.
• Treat strategy as ongoing, adjusting as teams progress, hit obstacles, or need collaboration.
• Lead strategy with servant-leadership that supports teams without micromanaging their solutions.

02Key sections

The missing product strategy

Cagan notes that most product organizations he visits have plenty of work underway but lack a product strategy, becoming feature teams that rarely move closer to desired outcomes. This produces wasted effort, especially when roadmaps drive the work.

Defining product strategy

Strategy is the overall approach and rationale for achieving a goal, while tactics are the details. Product strategy answers how to make the product vision real while meeting company needs.

Why strategy is hard

Good product strategy requires making tough choices, generating and applying insights, converting them into action, and managing actively without micromanaging. Cagan points to avoidance of difficult choices as a common cause of bad strategy.

Focus over sprawl

Companies often pursue dozens of major objectives that no team can realistically advance, so focus means choosing a few critical objectives and accepting what will not be done.

Insights, action and management

Insights come from data, customers, technology, and competitors, and must be turned into objective assignments and strategic context for product teams. Strategy then needs ongoing servant-leadership to handle obstacles and shifting progress.

03From the post

“A partnership dedicated to teaching best practices to product teams and product leaders”

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.