Qualities of good product strategy

2024 - Calum Shepherd

I set out to answer a simple question: what actually makes a good product strategy?

We all want strategies that people understand well enough to repeat back confidently - the kind colleagues feel comfortable socialising without a script. But that’s easier said than done.

It struck me that good strategies share a consistent set of qualities. Nail those, and you free up your energy to focus on the what - the actual substance of the strategy - rather than fighting the format.

So I did some digging. This post covers:

• What a strategy actually is
• Why it matters
• What to avoid
• What to aim for

Hopefully it’s as useful to you as it was to me.

What is a strategy?

“A detailed plan for achieving success in situations such as war, politics, business, industry, or sport, or the skill of planning for such situations.” - Cambridge Dictionary

The key phrase for me is “detailed plan.” I’ve always tried to keep strategies as clear as possible, and clarity usually means a sufficient level of detail - so it seems I was on the right track.

Why does strategy matter?

Your product strategy drives alignment and coordination across the company. It gets everyone pulling in the same direction, at the same time. It creates focus.

Picture shipping a set of new features for a specific customer segment: marketing campaigns are ready to go, customer success can talk about it confidently, support is briefed to handle questions, and sales knows exactly who to pitch it to. That’s what good strategy makes possible - and it’s exactly what I’ve been aiming for.

What makes a bad strategy?

Sometimes it’s easier to define something by what it isn’t:

• It isn’t fluffy. Some people argue strategy shouldn’t need to be actionable - that it can paint a vague picture without a clear route to action. I disagree. If it isn’t actionable, it isn’t meaningful.
• It isn’t a financial target. Telling your teams to “increase revenue” isn’t a strategy - it’s a way of measuring success. “Target segment X with value proposition Y to achieve Z revenue” is a much better starting point.
• It isn’t how your teams collaborate. Describing how teams work together is topology, not strategy. Team topologies define the purpose and relationships between teams - important, but a different thing entirely.

If team topologies are new to you, Martin Fowler’s piece is a great primer.

What makes a good strategy?

Surprisingly, the best explanation I found wasn’t from a product source at all - it’s from Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt. Worth grabbing at a good price.

Marty Cagan’s piece on product strategy is also excellent, and complements Rumelt’s thinking well.

Pulling from both, a good strategy tends to:

1. Identify a series of problems or opportunities
2. Sequence them in the order you’ll tackle them
3. Diagnose each problem or opportunity - breaking things down goes a long way
4. Set out a series of actions for teams to take

On top of that, a good strategy should:

• Be written in plain English
• Have a clear “curator” or owner
• Get updated as new insights emerge
• Be re-communicated whenever it changes
• Stay an iterative, living document rather than a one-off artefact
• Be explainable by anyone across the company
• Move you toward your product vision

I’m sticking to this framework going forward, and hope it helps me keep refining strategies for the better in the months ahead.