If you’re a Product Manager / Product Leader reading this, you may at-least think, do or secretly hope that it is your responsibility to write the strategy for your area of scope. But if you’re a founder/entrepreneur/business leader, it may not be wrong if you’re thinking that OFCOURSE! It is “I who should be writing down the strategy”. None of these schools of thought are wrong.
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Writing Strategy comes with liability. The liability of delivering on it and eventually driving success of your company. You may write something meaningfully sharp, that it may piss off many others (where is “this thing” in the strategy?), or you may write something so verbose that it almost looks like a best practices document - it makes everyone in the company happy.
While the strategy document may be great, good or bad, be rest assured you can never know it unless you execute on it. You could make battle strategies all decade, but the efficacy of strategy is only known when you actually go to the battle. So, when it comes to down who should write down the strategy in the company - I often ask - Who is going to go into the battle?
So whoever it is that goes to the battle often, this post is for that person (and the team). You may have suffered the wrath of thousand strategy frameworks being dropped down onto you from the world of internet and product content creators - but I want to apologize on their behalf and give you the only strategy framework you need.
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But before that, let us spend 5 mins on understand who is responsible for writing down the strategy?
Marty Cagan has often mentioned that the job of a true Product Manager is one of the most difficult because the role needs to check for both business viability and customer value. To be good at both, a true PM would need to know the market ins and outs, customer insights and behaviors, business fundamentals of the company and then decide which product idea makes sense to pursue - an incredibly difficult skill to possess.
In reality, this skillset of value and viability has often been attributed to many other roles in the company as well - could be the founder, business leader, product line managers and so on, and in such organizations a typical Product Manager may not have a lot of personal skin in the value/viability aspect. Even to an extent that in some organizations, you don’t need a typical Marty Cagan Product Manager at all.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, and certainly wasn’t a bad thing before INSPIRED (the book) came out. In many companies, ability to understand viability and value could lie with different roles.
Exhibit 1: At Apple, top-down decisions are common, not because of the hierarchy thing- but because Apple has groomed its leadership talent to an extend that it is better at understanding value and viability than an average product role hired freshly into the company. Hence, it is possible for leadership to be the one that informs and writes the strategy. This means experts can quickly approve/disapprove/challenge product decisions, saving a lot of time. Also, sometimes decisions are guided top down to save on time. This in no way demeans product roles, but is a good example of value/viability understand could also lie in some other parts of the company, but this is a dangerous learning to take away into other companies if your leadership talent is not at-least close to as good as Apple has.
Exhibit 2: Few months back, I visited one of my friends who is a Software Engineer with Meta in the Silicon Valley, and he mentioned that PM on his team hardly works with engineering team on day to day basis. Engineering team was the one figuring out experiments, managing sprints and also checking if the right metrics were being hit. So, I asked - then what do the PMs do? He said “PMs figure out the strategy, deal with organizational complexity such as legal, compliance and more. We meet the PM as a team to know if we are moving in right direction w.r.t roadmap (ideas and metrics), eventually hitting the strategy or the roadmap needs to be changed. But once roadmap was aligned, it was left to engineering team to figure out the execution and metrics. PM did not even open the JIRA or any other ticket handling system.
Exhibit 3: During the same trip, I met a Product Leader at Atlassian as well (has no connection to the JIRA comment by Meta’s Software Engineer above ). He clearly mentioned that PMs at Atlassian were expected to inspire and influence others, demonstrate craft mastery by being customer-focused and continuously learning, deliver outcomes by focusing on customer and business goals, and communicate effectively by being strong storytellers. Engineers are responsible for the "how" - the technical execution of features, providing estimates of time and effort required, and ensuring agile development practices are followed.
Exhibit 4: Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky has been vocal about the fact that he loves to be in the battle and review every move himself:
“I started reviewing all the work. I reviewed the work every week, every two weeks, every four weeks. Before, people thought that was meddling. And I said ‘You know what, screw it. We’re going to review everything, I’m going to be the chief editor, and I didn’t push decision-making down. I decided to pull decision-making in like an orchestra conductor and what we created was a shared conscious of the top 30 to 40 people at the company , and it was like one neural network—one brain.”
Thus, the case in point being that strategy is not Product Manager or Product Leader’s responsibility and accountability only, but owing to company’s culture and what has worked for them for years, it can be the job that many layers / or certain layers in the organization do together.
Now let us go back to the original intent of this post - the point I was trying to make on strategy frameworks.
While there are many strategy frameworks out there - but most of them are also guilty of being either too gimmicky or under-represent the complexity of writing a good strategy.
Some of them are at a very high level - broadly positioning strategy as a dreamer’s exercise but some others are too granular - even including the product backlog management into the strategy writing process.
What I would highly recommend is to first clarify that Strategy is:
❌NOT Vision or Mission
❌NOT a template to fill by teams
❌NOT a presentation or slide deck preferably
❌NOT a Product Roadmap
❌NOT a Inspirational Document
❌NOT written in stone
❌NOT following the latest trends
❌NOT about making money
❌NOT about beating the competition
❌NOT tactics
But in fact,
A strategy document serves as a comprehensive but sharp-like-knife narrative that effectively communicates the directions necessary to succeed in the targeted market.
It goes beyond merely informing leadership, but extending to all levels of the organization, such that team members at every level understand their role in contributing to the strategy.
But we all know how tough it is, to address all of above.
That is why, the best way to write such a strategy document that does all of above is to answer the list a set of questions comprehensively and clearly. The format of how you answer the questions does not matter.
(can be in a word document, slide deck, video, audio, theater show...err you get the point, the medium does not matter)
But what would be such list of questions? A set of questions that you could give to an individual, to a small team or even to your CEO - so that they can effectively write strategy, evaluate it or find gaps in the quality of it.
Here are those questions.
✔️The 10 Questions of Strategy
You can share the ‘The 10 Questions of Strategy’ on your social media, or with your friends/colleagues by clicking here:
Where do we aim to be in 3 years' time, and how does this goal compare to our current state as a company?
Why: This establishes a clear direction for the organization and provides a benchmark for progress. Without benchmarking your current state (honestly), you may miss the current organizational shortcomings, and then build on top of a wrong base. Know the strategic gap.
What if you don't: You simply set yourself up for failure if you do not take into account current strengths/shortcomings of the company. You should know: How high should we jump? … and without a clear vision of where to get to, the organization lacks alignment and may struggle to prioritize initiatives effectively, leading to often under-whelming and aimless pursuits.
Which market opportunities (and needs), do we need to address to achieve our goals, and why are these the right opportunities?
Why: This helps you identify areas of potential growth and ensures focus on addressing customer needs, hence requiring you to write the exact market opportunities and the list of customer problems to solve, without beating around the bush. Repeat after me: “Market Opportunities and Customer Problems”. Don’t skip on either.
What if you don't: Failing to prioritize market opportunities can result in misallocation of resources and missed chances for growth, leaving the organization vulnerable to competitors. And each market opportunity also has an underlying customer problem that is under-served or not served. Without knowledge of these problems, you’re trying to hit the hammer on every nail. Don’t do that.
Which target customers do we believe we can effectively serve within these opportunities? What are the problem areas of these target segments?
Why: Any market sizing exercise can often make you delusional about the opportunity. You can’t win the whole market in one go. You need to find where do you start? Which target segment do you first want to win? It helps tailor products/services to meet customer needs and build customer loyalty, before you move to the next or adjacent customer segment.
What if you don't: Without a clear understanding of the target audience, the organization may struggle to create relevant offerings, resulting in poor market penetration and customer dissatisfaction. Don’t try to win the market, win the customer first - market follows.
What makes our organization better suited than others to address these opportunities?
Why: This is often the most lacking part of any strategy document. If you identify a market opportunity, of-course there are many other companies also that must have identified it - so why should it be you/your team to pursue it? what gives you the edge? Answering this question identifies competitive advantages and differentiators, positioning the organization for success in the market.
What if you don't: Neglecting to articulate your own competitive advantages leaves the organization vulnerable to competitors and may result in commoditization or loss of market share over time even if you win in the beginning.
What specific actions will we take to maximize our chances of success in these opportunities?
Why: Strategy documents often and most of the times miss out on ‘sequence of actions company/teams would take’ to address the opportunities in question. It can be as detailed as “first, we will set out to resolve customer service complaints down to x%, before we launch the Y product in that market” or “For next 9 months, we will setup a scalable platform A that would allow us to provide localized product experience in 3 core markets”. Often when strategy documents miss out on this level of detail - they end up becoming a best practice document with market focus and blurry sounding statements that don’t specify how to actually win.
What if you don't: Lack of specific action plans leads to ambiguity and inefficiency, hindering progress and making it difficult to achieve strategic objectives. Many strategic exercises have no actions listed in them - making them at best 'safest document alive in the company’.
Which risks do we need to mitigate along the way, and how will we do so?
Why: Any set of actions come with assumptions - they could turn out to be wrong and also risks that need to be mitigated over the course. Good strategy document proactively addresses potential threats to organizational success and minimizes disruptions. Do a pre-mortem so that you can avoid a post-mortem.
What if you don't: Ignoring risks leaves the organization vulnerable to costly setbacks or failures, jeopardizing strategic objectives and long-term sustainability.
Under what circumstances would we reconsider our chosen actions during the 3-year period?
Why: Strategy documents are not static - because strategy is not too. Sometimes your assumptions on market opportunities are proven wrong or you may end up concluding that your organization’s status quo is far from good enough to address next big opportunities. Hence, you may need to change/pivot your strategy. Just like you revisit roadmaps every 3 or 6 months, you may need to revisit your strategy every time your assumptions change, or market reality turns out to be different. It allows for flexibility and adaptability in response to changing market conditions or unforeseen challenges.
What if you don't: Failing to reassess chosen actions may result in missed opportunities for optimization or improvement, leading to rigidity and lack of creativity. If you hear the market enough, you will often get the feedback if you should revisit your strategy or not.
What distractions must we avoid to maintain focus on our selected actions?
Why: The strategy document should mention the market opportunities that may seem attractive but are not the right fit for the company to solve, also there could be other distractions that the company should avoid. Without a ‘out of scope’ mention, the message you give to your organization is that ‘anything else that falls into our plate will also be considered” - this mindset just leads to fatigue and stress in the organization. Ensures resources and efforts remain aligned with strategic priorities, maximizing productivity and effectiveness.
What if you don't: Succumbing to distractions diverts resources and attention away from strategic objectives, hindering progress and diluting efforts.
What support do we require to execute these actions effectively?
Why: No plan can work out, if it doesn’t have the right fuel. The strategy document should mention which resource needs and support systems necessary for successful strategy implementation. And if these resources are not there, why do you still think the plan can work out? Avoid the dreamland of ‘we can make everything happen’
What if you don't: Neglecting to address resource requirements may lead to resource constraints or inadequate support, impeding the execution of strategic initiatives.
How will we measure our progress and know that we are moving towards success?
Why: This is all about KPIs and Metrics. You should have periodic follow ups on ‘whether you’re moving in the right direction or not’ and this is most visible when you track the right metrics in your team/company. If metrics don’t move long enough, it is a good indication to see which part of strategy is not working out and if you need to revisit the strategy. This part of document provides visibility into progress and effectiveness of strategic initiatives, enabling course correction as needed.
What if you don't: Without clear metrics for success, the organization lacks accountability and may struggle to identify areas for improvement or optimization, resulting in missed opportunities for growth.
Now let us please get rid of strategy templates?
Do you have a question on following the ‘10 Questions of Strategy’? or do you want to comment on any aspect, please do so here:
FAQ Section
(This section is always being updated)
When so you see the product strategy document being implemented in the case of a startup. At what stage does it become mandatory?
Bandan: You can think of a strategy document as a common understanding and language amongst team members to know where they want to go as a company, and that is why I would recommend a startup to have it from the outset. If a team in a startup decides not to have a strategy in place yet, I would ask “why don’t you need a common understanding n where to go, yet?”
Shouldn’t we add “What are our current weaknesses / gaps in adopting this strategy”?
Bandan: For me, the weakness analysis is pretty much part of 4 (Why us?) and 6 (Which risks?). It is often true that companies avoid weaknesses and over index on strengths. Hence, these two questions help companies be self-aware and also address the known and unknown risks.
Why does the customer needs (2) come before who the customer is (3)?
Bandan: The framework prioritizes market opportunities first. Question 2 deals with analyzing the market to identify areas where there is potential for growth, unmet needs, emerging trends, or underserved segments (hence referring to problem areas). And then within this opportunity space, Question 3 deals with finding who your target customer will be. The confusion may arise from the fact that Q2 mentioned “market opportunities i.e customer needs” but it just refers to the market and the needs that exist within it, that leads to opportunities. Hence, Q2 now it has been corrected to “market opportunities (and needs)” to reflect it.