Here's Why Product Strategy is Difficult
Every Product person wants to be more "strategic." What exactly does that mean? And, why is it so difficult?
👋 Happy Sunday, friends! Doing a small reboot of this Substack starting with a new name (Strategy Meets World) and a new focus – bi-weekly deep dive on product strategy all grounded in real-world products.
Consider this the re-intro post. I’ll be back next Sunday with more. Until then, enjoy your weekend and Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there.
“Strategic”
In the Product space, some variation of that adjective is everywhere. Job postings, leveling frameworks, feedback sessions - they all hone in on this squishy attribute.
Let’s give it some shape: What exactly does it mean to be strategic in Product? There’s no shortage of definitions.
I like this one from Gibson Biddle:
A good product strategy answers the question, “How will your product delight customers in hard to copy, margin-enhancing ways?”
Adding more, Lenny provides five characteristics of good strategy.
Problem-oriented: Clearly identifies the problem
Insight-driven: Rooted in insights, both quantitative and qualitative
Actionable: Outlines concrete actions/investments that will solve this problem
Focused: Has a small number of high-leverage bets
Cohesive: Create a clear path from the problem to the solution
Pulling these together and referencing work from Julie Zhou and others. Here’s how I define it.
Strategic Product leaders can identify problems and lay out a clear roadmap to resolve them all in the service of pushing the business forward. The roadmap is rounded in fundamental concepts, industry expertise, and an understanding of the existing market.
In broad strokes then, we can see that Product strategy involves two core pieces - defining a coherent roadmap from Point A to B and grounding that roadmap in expertise.
Seems simple enough, right?
So, Why is Product Strategy so Difficult?
Quick to define, hard to learn.
It’s really tough to know when you’re doing a good job, and it’s easy to feel like everyone else is doing better.
I’d surmise that’s one reason why “product strategy example” jumps in popularity every October and April. Everyone is forced to brush off their strategic planning hats, and we want to see what everyone else is doing!
I’ll posit a few specific reasons why product strategy is so difficult to master:
Good product strategy is often only apparent with hindsight. Facebook’s decision to build Marketplace or Amazon Prime seem like obvious d’uh decisions now, but at some point, they were risky bets.
Product strategy is often opaque. Few companies post their strategy docs online for everyone to see (GitLab is a great example of one that does!). Strategy, at its core, lends to being guarded and protected. We see product launches and have to guess at the mechanics behind the scenes.
It requires reps of trial and error. You’re (probably) not going to get it right the first time. With practice tough, you build a base foundation you can fall back on.
Learn Through Practice
When asked how to get better at product strategy, I really loved this answer from Melissa Perri:
Pretend you're the CPO. Would you do something different? What would you do? Can you dig into the data? Can you ask questions?
So, that’s what we’ll do together. Put in some real-world reps and see if we can crack this nut that is product strategy.
We’ll look at actual companies, breakdown the market, look at the core concepts powering their growth (or lack their of), and maybe make some predictions on where things might go. Think of it like a product-focused MBA.
Or, if I could be so bold, I think of it as a smash up of publications like Stratechery, Lenny’s Newsletter, and Not Boring. That’s the goal at least!
See You Next Week?
Look forward to one email every other Sunday in your inbox (starting next week, June 25th).
In addition to the newsletter, I’m interested in connecting with other folks building product. If you’re building something interesting connect with me or shoot me an email.
I’m thinking of two other outlets for learning and sharing:
Product-focused book club over on Fable. I’m a big reader, and I’d love to read with other folks. Join if you want!
“The Retro”. There are a lot of product-focused podcasts out there, but I find they’re all pretty high level. Rarely do the drill into the actual day-to-day of a product. Interviewees are also typically CPOs or VPs, not on-the-ground operators. I’m curious to hear from the latter - PMs or Senior PMs - and hear a soup to nuts story of building a feature or new product. What was surprising? What did they learn? What went well?
If you’re interested in the podcast idea (or have any feedback at all), let me know. I’d love to hear it.
Read These With Coffee
🍱 Understanding marketplace supply strategy. My new go-to for understanding foundational strategy behind marketplaces. “…there are three main strategies for supply differentiation: comprehensiveness, exclusivity, and curation.” (via a16z)
💼 Building a long and meaningful career. “Ensure that the story you will tell about the work you're doing today is meaningful for your skip job. So if you sit down and you write down, "In six months, in 12 months, in 24 months, when I achieve or finish this role, here's the paragraph I'll write. Here's a problem I solved. Here's the skill I built. Here's the headwind I faced. Here's what I did to overcome it." Use I in the sentence, do not use we. We will do good things. You are who we are thinking about, your career. We're not looking for we. Master the story now.” (via Lenny’s Podcast)
⚙️ Understanding churn and carrying capacity. “Churn is best thought of as: ‘What percentage of my subscriber base will cancel their subscription each month?’ Eventually, the number of existing customers cancelling each month will equal the number of new customers subscribing. This is carrying capacity." (Daniel Doyon on Twitter)
📚 Think of your company like a product. “It begins with this idea: Your company is a product. Yes, the things you make are products (or services), but your company is the thing that makes those things. That’s why your company should be your best product…But when you think of the company as a product, you ask different questions: Do people who work here know how to use the company? Is it simple? Complex? Is it obvious how it works? What’s fast about it? What’s slow about it? Are there bugs? What’s broken that we can fix quickly and what’s going to take a long time?” (It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work)
If you got anything out of this edition, it would mean the world to me if you forwarded it to a friend or shared it on one of your social networks.
Better yet, reach out and tell me what you enjoyed. I’m always here at jeremeylduvall@gmail.com.
See you in a few weeks,