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July 23 - July 25, 2020
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Lao Tzu
The product strategy describes how the long-term goal is attained; it includes the product’s value proposition, market, key features, and business goals. The product roadmap shows how the product strategy is put into action by stating specific releases with dates, goals, and features.
the vision describes the ultimate reason for creating the product, the product
strategy states how the vision will be realized, and the product roadmap states how the strategy will be implemented. The product backlog contains the details necessary to develop the product as outlined in the roadmap, such as epics, user stories, and other requirements.
Doing the right thing is more important than doing the thing right. Peter Drucker
A product strategy is a high-level plan that helps you realize your vision or overarching goal. It explains who the product is for, and why people would want to buy and use it; what the product is, and what makes it stands out; and what the business goals are, and why it is worthwhile for your company to invest in it.
The market describes the target customers and users of your product:
The needs comprise the main problem your product solves or the primary benefit it provides.
The key features and differentiators are those aspects of your product that are crucial to creating value for the customers and users and that entice people to choose it over competing offerings.
focus on the three to five features that influence a person’s decision to buy and use the product.
The business goals capture how your product is going to benefit your company, and why it is worthwhile for the company to invest in the product.
Being clear on the business goals allows you to select the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure your product’s performance.
Note that a product strategy is not a fixed plan or something you only create for a new product: it changes as your product grows and matures. As a consequence, you should review and adjust your product strategy on a regular basis—at least once a quarter as a rule of thumb.
The vision is the ultimate reason for creating your product; it describes the positive change the product should bring about.
An effective vision has four qualities: it is big, shared, inspiring, and concise.
big vision,
increases the chances that people wil...
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it makes it easier to change ...
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shared vision is that it motivates and unites people: it acts as the product’s true north, facilitates collaboration, and provides continuity in an ever-changing world.
inspiring vision resonates with the people working on the product, and it provides motivation and guidance even if the going gets tough.
A concise vision, finally, is easy to communicate...
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Without a valid product strategy—a strategy that has been validated and does not contain any significant risks—you will struggle to discover the right product details;
the business strategy has to direct the product strategy,
your overall company vision should influence the vision of your product.
the product vision should be in line with the overall company vision, and the product strategy should help implement the business strategy.
Products are value-creating vehicles. In order to generate value, a product has to offer something new; it has to innovate to a greater or lesser extent.
Core innovations optimize existing products for established markets; they draw on the skills and assets your company already has in place, and they make incremental changes to current products.
Adjacent innovations involve leveraging something your company does well into a new space—
Adjacent innovations allow you to open up new revenue sources, but they require fresh insights into customer needs, demand trends, market structure, competitive dynamics, technologies, and other market variables.
The amount of risk and uncertainty present is therefore considerably higher than in core innovations.
a disruptive innovation typically solves a customer problem in a better, more convenient, or cheaper way than existing alternatives.
Succeeding with disruptive innovations requires an entrepreneurial mind-set and the ability to experiment, to make mistakes, and to fail.
Requiring a solid business case can prevent you from creating disruptive products. It’s often better to use the risk of inaction—the danger of not investing in a disruptive product and therefore losing out on future revenue and profits.
The purpose of the product strategy is to maximize the chances of achieving product success: to ensure that your product grows and prospers.
The product life cycle model in Figure 7 presents five stages: development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
three important events in the life of a product: launch, when the product first becomes available; achieving product-market fit (PMF), when your product is ready to serve the mainstream market; and end of life, when you decide to discontinue your product.
Before the launch your primary goal is to find a valid product strategy—a strategy that results in a product that is beneficial, feasible, and economically viable.
The trick is therefore to launch a good-enough product, a product that does a good job of meeting the primary customer need, and to subsequently adapt and enhance it.
After the launch your objective is to achieve PMF and to experience growth as quickly as possible.
If you see a positive market response to your newly launched product, then don’t make the mistake of overoptimizing your product for the early market.
your product may face a gap or chasm between the early and the mainstream market that you have to overcome
Once you start to experience significant growth, you have achieved PMF.
As your product matures, growth will eventually start to stagnate.
the strategy for a new product should first help you get to launch, then to achieve PMF, and then to sustain the growth.
strategic work does not end until you discontinue your product. You should therefore regularly assess your product’s performance and adjust your strategy accordingly. Strategy and execution go hand in hand for digital products.
Even the best strategy is useless if you can’t communicate it effectively.
download the Product Vision Board template from my website, www.romanpichler.com,
Lean Canvas (Maurya 2012)
Business Model Canvas (Osterwalder and Pigneur 2010).
A subscription business model requires customers to pay a subscription price to access the product,
