Have you ever wondered about the thought process behind the scenes in the organizations undertaking product development?
I ask myself the very same question every time I see my favorite product come up with a new feature that promises to make my job much easier, you know the feature that works with Artificial Intelligence.
I imagine a large slot machine that pops up keywords and each of the executives from the tech world looks at the keyword and decide to come up with either a feature or a product with that keyword.
It’s easier to imagine things that way as it makes it easier to digest this whole AI overdose.
In reality, every new feature and product should fall under a product strategy aligned with business goals and complied with by engineering teams.
I am aware there is an overlying Company Strategy that drives the direction of a product, but I am focusing more on the product strategy and complications that come with it in a start-up and/or a mid-size firm.
What is a Product Strategy?
An overarching plan that highlights the vision of a start-up or a mid-size organization and the plan on achieving it with the features & the product. A clear product strategy will eventually lead to a refined product roadmap.
A good product strategy provides a clear vision for the organization and delivers it with a defined mission.
A purposeful, flexible, and value-driven product strategy should be measurable and always put customer needs at the forefront.
“Be stubborn on vision but flexible on details.” – @JeffBezos
The Corporate Culture Behind the Product Strategy
Every organization boasts a unique vision and mission statement to go with the working culture admired to be one of the best workplaces in the world.
Of course, all this holds until the product stops adding more customers or the churn rate drops to an unsustainable value. The vision, mission, and work culture suddenly take a drastic turn and it is almost always impacted on the people.
A good product strategy and all the initiatives that accompany it should be flexible as mentioned above. When truly put to the test, it should hold onto the vision and mission while protecting the work culture and the people.
To stay ahead of such a downturn, the product strategy should be defined with measurable & trackable metrics.
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How to measure and keep it flexible?
When there are no measurable and tangible initiatives and goals helping to realize the product strategy, we might as well call it science fiction.
The best way to keep a product strategy flexible is to have robust KPIs and OKRs. The data will drive the best way to counter any deviations in the strategic goals and objectives.
KPIs otherwise called Key Performance Indicators tell us if the product strategy is achieving its core objectives and goals. It should be measurable and put in real numbers.
OKRs on the other hand provide a broader overview of the objective and need to be drilled down into measurable initiatives and goals.
The question arises when the popular cross-functional setup provides a conundrum of aligning KPIs to OKRs and finding effective ways to stay on the course and track it.
The Top-Down, Bottom-Up Conundrum
When working within a cross-functional team, I always wondered how every team is working on features they feel are important and the discontent with the product team as the release approaches since the release doesn't include a key feature requested by a customer/client.
Before we get into the blame game, maybe we do not get into it at all, I think this is a major failure on the part of product strategy and the stakeholders involved in building the product strategy.
While the stakeholders are always concerned with the profits and numbers, the engineering teams will always have an outlook centered around improving Architecture.
How do we solve this problem of imbalance between key stakeholders?
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Spinning the flywheel of profitability with accountability
The stakeholders looking to push for profitable features need to develop a shared understanding with the engineering teams accountable for building these features.
A clear collaborative goal-setting approach is often overlooked and taken for granted in favor of quick fixes and a faster pace for Go-To-Market.
In a cross-functional team setup, there is a need to develop a continuous feedback mechanism to align the KPIs and OKRs so that the technical outcomes are in sync with the business goals.
The two-way communication channel will reduce the need for a flywheel approach in prioritizing profitability over customer needs.
Always putting customer needs up front
In conclusion, a good product strategy will always put customer needs at the forefront.
A good product team will be an outspoken advocate of the user and make sure to establish a clear communication channel to pass on the user feedback to the stakeholders and in turn, adapt the product strategy based on such feedback.
The success of the product strategy and thus the product is the responsibility of all across the product development.