Developing Strategy for Product Managers
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Slides Vikas Batra recently used in his discussion w/ mentees of The Product Mentor. Synopsis: In this talk, Vikas will share his thoughts on what is Product Strategy and how Product Managers can develop it, He will also share some concepts in Strategy and how Product Managers can apply them to make their products more successful. The Product Mentor is a program designed to pair Product Mentors and Mentees from around the World, across all industries, from start-up to enterprise, guided by the fundamental goals…Better Decisions. Better Products. Better Product People. Throughout the program, each mentor leads a conversation in an area of their expertise that is live streamed and available to both mentee and the broader product community. http://TheProductMentor.com
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Developing Strategy for Product Managers
- 1. Developing Strategy for Product Managers Vikas Batra
- 2. Outline • What is Strategy • Product Strategy • Benefiting from Product Strategy
- 4. Strategy vs. Execution Strategy • Aspiration • Choosing What We Do Execution • Executing or Implementing the Choices
- 5. Strategy as a “Fit” External Environment Internal Capabilities
- 6. Developing Strategy • Define Aspiration • Understand Environment • Awareness • Evolution • Response • Understand Internal Capabilities • Strengths, Weaknesses • Potential • Identify Options • Analyze Options • Choose/Recommend Option
- 7. Strategy Context • Country Strategy • Corporate Strategy • Marketing Strategy • Product Strategy • Individual Strategy
- 8. Product Strategy Strategy in Product Context
- 9. Product Strategy What Difference does the Product aspire to make externally? What are the internal objectives? Value Proposition / Goals Difference to Whom (Target Audience) ? Segmentation How will your Target Audience learn about the Product ? Channel/Distribution How will your Product get to your Target Audience? Marketing Why will Target Audience select the Product over other alternatives? Differentiation vs. Creating new markets Will Target be able to use the Product? Is the Difference being made? Utility vs. User Experience How will the Product meet the internal objective? Monetization/Impact How do we measure and track the Difference/internal objectives? Metrics, KPIs What capabilities do we need to make it happen? Core Competencies
- 10. Product Strategy What Difference does the Product aspire to make externally? What are the internal objectives? Value Proposition / Goals Difference to Whom (Target Audience) ? Segmentation How will your Target Audience learn about the Product ? Marketing How will your Product get to your Target Audience? Channel/Distribution Why will Target Audience select the Product over other alternatives? Differentiation vs. Creating new markets Will Target be able to use the Product? Is the Difference being made? Utility vs. User Experience How will the Product meet the internal objective? Monetization/Impact How do we measure and track the Difference/internal objectives ? Metrics, KPIs What capabilities do we need to make it happen? Core Competencies, Leverage Coherent Set of Choices
- 11. Benefiting From Product Strategy What can I do to benefit from it?
- 12. Current Role • Aspiring to Develop Product Strategy • Product Strategy Execution • Developing Product Strategy
- 13. Aspiring to Developing Product Strategy Connect with Product Strategy Team Create Strategy of your Product and Socialize Understand Business Strategy Develop Deep Understanding of Target Customer
- 14. Product Strategy Execution Understand Product Strategy Align Your Execution Plan Communicate Strategy to your Team Provide Inputs •Organization capabilities •Technology Evolution
- 15. Developing Product Strategy Getting Buy In Regular Reviews Aligning Execution Plans Develop Deep Understanding of Target Customer
- 16. Questions
- 17. Creating Product Strategy Market Organizational Capabilities Strategy Functional Plans • Product Roadmap • Marketing Plan • Operations Plan • …
Editor's Notes
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- So what is strate
- 2 things It is about making choices. In contrast to Execution. Both are needed for success. It is not more or less important than Execution. There are many definitions of Strategy but one that I like…
- In order to realize your aspiration The idea is to develop a fit between the two in order to realize the aspiration. And you control yourself more than the external environment. It is about adapting yourself to fit into the environment. So how do we go about making that fit…
- Strategy is all about making choices. Choices to what we do and implicitly what we don’t do.
- Strategy can be a different levels or contexts. Examples Often Cascade down. So alignment. Within in a company there could be multiple levels of strategy. Large organization. In such situation it is important to understand that it you Product may part of a business group, portfolio that may have a its own strategy at higher. Your Product Strategy should align with that.
- That the basic background on Strategy, now lets get into Product Strategy. Here a framework on Product Strategy that I like…
- Here is a framework. The Product Strategy should answer the following questions in no more than 4-5 pages. On Aspiration: what is the difference your Product in someone’s life. Is it taking away some pain, it is making something easier, faster, more enjoyable. Of the potential markets, available to us, whom we can make this difference which ones do we choose? Which geography, customer segments, on basis do we segment the market ? What Channel, distribution method? important if you have physical product? Know that your Product exists and can make that difference in their lives? Differentiation - This is critical for most products. Is it really, truly compelling? What is our competitive advantage? Is it sustainable? Hard to replicate? Utility vs. Emotional e.g. I call T-Mobile “How can I make your day great….“ Of the capabilities needed which ones we already have, which ones we need to develop? Now lets map these to some jargon. Segmentation: Which customer segments are more attractive to meet your aspiration? Segment attractiveness can be critical analysis. You can define your own customer segments based on customer ‘attributes’. Attributes that customer values and if you provide that value then you can make them switch or make them your customers. (e.g. Gain for people who want fragrance in detergent vs.Tide). Understanding of customer needs is critical. Sustained superior customer understanding can be a competitive advantage. Inferior one can at best be a disadvantage and at worst could kill the product or entire company, if it is a single product company. There is no substitute for it, so do as much as you can individually, organizationally and structurally, to understand, capture, disseminate, utilize customer needs/preferences. What is the competition in those segments? Do not conclude entire/large segments to be unattractive. See if there are pockets that are attractive. See how the game could be changed. Look at what technical innovations have happened that make a formerly considered unattractive segment now attractive enough. Is there a discontinuity that is happening in the segment that enables new players/you to come in. e.g. Public Safety migration from LMR to LTE. Don’t expect customers to tell you what they value. You have to figure it out. Creating product categories is better than winning existing categories. E.g. NetJets. Look at competition and see what you can do differently. Copying competition will not give you competitive advantage. Look deeper into more fundamental customer need and see how it can be addressed (hole vs. a drill, hanging a painting vs. hole/nail, improving aesthetics of the room vs. hanging a painting Google Chrome cast natural screen saver vs. painting). Fundamentally these are options in each and you are making choices in each. They have to be consistent coherent among themselves.
- Now lets map these to some jargon. Share my thoughts developing these. On Aspiration: Align with the higher-level Strategy/Aspiration. Keep it simple so team can understand it. Make elements measurable and trackable. Define quantitative metrics for aspiration. Make them time bound. Ok to keep it over 1/2/5 years out. Segmentation: Which customer segments are more attractive to meet your aspiration? Segment attractiveness can be critical analysis. You can define your own customer segments based on customer ‘attributes’. Attributes that customer values and if you provide that value then you can make them switch or make them your customers. (e.g. Gain for people who want fragrance in detergent vs.Tide). What is the competition in those segments? Do not conclude entire/large segments to be unattractive. See if there are pockets that are attractive. See how the game could be changed. Look at what technical innovations have happened that make a formerly considered unattractive segment now attractive enough. Is there a discontinuity that is happening in the segment that enables new players/you to come in. e.g. Public Safety migration from LMR to LTE. Don’t expect customers to tell you what they value. You have to figure it out. Differentiation - This is critical for most products. Is it really, truly compelling? What is our competitive advantage? Is it sustainable? Hard to replicate? Look at competition and see what you can do differently. Copying competition will not give you competitive advantage. Look deeper into more fundamental customer need and see how it can be addressed (hole vs. a drill, hanging a painting vs. hole/nail, improving aesthetics of the room vs. hanging a painting Google Chrome cast natural screen saver vs. painting). So there is lot of work done on Strategy? Beating existing product category. Creating product categories is better than winning existing categories. E.g. NetJets. Utility vs. Emotional e.g. I call T-Mobile “How can I make your day great….“ Product usage metrics. NPS. Define how/where they will be capture/measured? Be objective. Identify a few key 4-5 critical metrics that give overall view. Dashboard views. What processes do we need to put into place to develop/maintain capabilities? What systems do we need ? Of the capabilities needed which ones we already have, which ones we need to develop? Where can get the capabilities that we do not have? Within the organization? Outside partners? Are we using the core competences/competitively distinct capabilities of the organization? (not all activities have to be unique it is the set of activities that is unique) Fundamentally these are options in each and you are making choices in each. They have to be consistent coherent among themselves.
- Connect with whoever is Developing Product Strategy Create a 4-5 page Strategy of your Product Objectively assess it. Gaps? Identify options and socialize Develop deep understanding of the Environment/Target Customer Understanding of customer needs is critical. Sustained superior customer understanding can be a competitive advantage. Inferior one can at best be a disadvantage and at worst could kill the product or entire company, if it is a single product company. There is no substitute for it, so do as much as you can individually, organizationally and structurally, to understand, capture, disseminate, utilize customer needs/preferences. How to develop deep customer understanding Internet vs. Analyst Reports vs. Attending Events vs. Meeting Customer vs. Observing Customer. Developing AR Strategy. Analyst reports are good start. Events you get to learn even more (AE Expo). Customer even more specific. No replacement for deeply, deeply understanding the customer. Another possible source if your organization on key customer is public is their Annual Report, Attend an earnings call. Staying up to date on markets and competitive moves. Infoview company/area alert. Google alerts.
- Communicating to your execution team…. the why adds more meaning and increases engagement level. Review it and provide your inputs on where you thinks there are gaps or we could do better. Do not underestimate your contribution.. Often Product Strategy folks are Market focus and not as close on the technical innovations. Innovations that make things possible that were earlier not possible. That may make certain market segment that was earlier unattractive not attractive. For example Fast Path ---
- Include Execution folks Ensure inclusion of execution folks if they are separate. Execution team should feel it is ‘their’ strategy not something created by ‘Strategy team’. Input from Rob C. Input from CTP strategy process. Talk to as many people you can on pieces of Strategy. Broad set of perspectives are needed to come up with good strategy. Data vs. Hypothesis. Make communication a regular. Welcome feedback. Do not go with that attitude we have all the answers. Strategy reviews: Are we realizing are aspiration? How do we really know that? What opportunities are there related to unmet customer needs? What the most promising latest technical innovations? What the key threats? What core capabilities is the team lacking? Who is most troubling and threatening competitor? Find a Structured way to align functional execution plans to Strategy. Like roadmap, Customer support plan, marketing plan, Supply chain. Operations plan. Structured way of continued learning/getting better in an organization. E.g. Enterprise Rent a Car. Every location measures metric from customer “How likely are you to return as a customer” on a per site basis. And the data by site is published/public. Sites that are in the bottom 5% their bonuses are down. So they spend time an effort learning from the top performing sites to see what they are doing differently and adopt those best practices. Understanding of customer needs is critical. Sustained superior customer understanding can be a competitive advantage. Inferior one can at best be a disadvantage and at worst could kill the product or entire company, if it is a single product company. There is no substitute for it, so do as much as you can individually, organizationally and structurally, to understand, capture, disseminate, utilize customer needs/preferences.