Journal / Strategy
Good product strategy, bad product strategy
Once every while, every company will create or review their strategy again. An often taken route is that each department goes out and creates their own strategy: the Technology strategy, the Product strategy, the AI strategy, and the Sales strategy.
The Rumelt lens
This week I was re-reading the book Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt. Although nearly a classic, the basic thoughts are 100% applicable to any product strategy.
Rumelt's central argument is deceptively simple: a good strategy has a kernel made up of three elements:
- A diagnosis — defining or explaining the nature of the challenge
- A guiding policy — an overall approach to coping with or overcoming the obstacles identified in the diagnosis
- Coherent actions — coordinated set of steps, resource commitments, and practical moves that carry out the guiding policy
Bad strategy, by contrast, tends to be characterised by fluff (high-sounding words that say nothing), a failure to face the challenge, mistaking goals for strategy, and listing objectives without any real plan.
Applied to product
Start with the overarching company strategy. If it's solid, work it into plans for different teams — not the other way around. A product strategy that isn't derived from a genuine company-level diagnosis and guiding policy isn't a strategy; it's a wishlist.
A more hands-on guide on how to translate your strategy into a product strategy is written by Shreyas Doshi on Medium.
