How to Create a Solid and Successful Product Strategy?
What is the true meaning of strategy – a term nowadays often tossed around as corporate slang without substance – that many seem to have forgotten? A strategy is a plan designed to achieve a long-term goal or overall aim. Synonyms that might come to mind include a 'plan of action', 'master plans', maybe even 'the art of war' and 'battle strategy' if your interests lie in history or military operations.
Now, what about product strategy? We'd explain product strategy as a plan designed to achieve the long-term success of a product.
In this article, we'll cover the elements that create a solid product strategy and a few tips on how to make it succeed.
Elements of a solid product strategy
A solid product strategy consists of three core elements. The ultimate goal is to maximise the harmony between these three elements in order to achieve success. Product managers and innovation experts are well aware of and familiar with these three elements:
- Design (desirability)
- Business (viability)
- Technology (feasibility)
Design
The first element, design, is often also referred to as desirability. This element considers a problem or need that a customer is facing and how to offer a solution for the situation. It's about getting to know customers – what they really want or need – and creating a solution that they desire. It also examines how the offered solution would appear from a more abstract point of view (value proposition design) to a concrete point of view (the visual aspect of design).
When trying to maximise this element, one can describe it as finding a problem/solution fit.
Business
Aesthetic things are great, but your employees will starve to death (or find another job) if you can't feed them. Getting your business, or viability, right is important. A good method to summarise business aspects is to look at a business model canvas. However, a business model canvas tends to also take desirability and technology into account. The next stage is to get a basic business plan or business case ready. Business plans or cases help to clarify business ideas, spot potential problems, set out goals and measure progress. This stage is especially important when innovating with larger corporations. Lastly, viability also scrutinizes the process of developing and launching a product. Launching new products requires a lot of elements: customer service, operations, help desks, websites, servers, etc. All of these different aspects need to be prepared and aligned to reach a desirable outcome for both the business and its customers.
When trying to maximise this element, one can describe it as finding a product/market fit.
Technology
Products amount to nothing if they aren't driven by the right technology or aren't feasible. It's important to solve this by asking yourself: can we build this product successfully? At the same time, you need to remain ambitious and innovative. Technology is probably the one element where you have the most room to stretch since it doesn't always need to come from your stable. After all, collaborating with knowledgeable technology partners is an option for supplementing your feasibility.
When trying to maximise this element, one can describe it as finding a technology fit.
What makes a strategy succeed?
Get the order right
When commencing a product strategy, make sure to get the process order right. Start with solving your problem/solution fit first. Beginning with technology may result in focusing on pushing for a specific technology, which doesn't lead to finding the most optimal solution for customers in most cases. You create tunnel vision. Furthermore, it’s a waste of resources to bother about how to charge a solution when you don't yet know what the solution is or will be. So, maintain this order:
- Problem/solution fit = get the design right
- Product/market fit = get the business side right
- Technology fit = get the backbone right
Don’t overdo it
Keep it simple. A strategy that is too specific won't provide the appropriate amount of guidance for those involved in the process. People need a direction, a plan that heads towards a goal. They don't want or need every step in the process mapped out for them. At the end of the day, who cares whether you took the left or right route to reach the top of the mountain? The important part is that you reached the peak; not whether you took the left or right path.
Focus
Plans that are too broad usually end up causing confusion and misdirection. Think of it this way: A family trip's plans were so broad, they were no longer sure whether they were going to Stockholm or Madrid... So, keep your focus on the goal and what direction you want to take to get there. Everything else is noise that doesn't help.
Make it executable
There's nothing more frustrating than strategies made to gather dust. Remain realistic so that the strategy remains achievable. After all, a strategy needs to be capable of executing a vision but is not a vision itself.
Don’t set it in stone
A strategy is a plan, and things don't always go as planned. Life is full of surprises and strategies can end up taking different directions than intended in order to reach the final goal. Be flexible and adapt your plans as things change or new developments pop up.
