Get to the bottom of the strategy with this question-based approach and avoid all other frameworks. Strategy is about understanding where you're headed, why it matters and how to get there.
Hey Sergio, thanks for sharing. That is a well written piece and I could relate to it throughout. Another aspect I often try to publish and say often is 'strategy revisit cycle' - often companies with BS strategies would end up getting a feedback from the market (lack of growth), and that should be a signal to do better at strategy in next cycle - but when companies ignore market feedback and continue to build BS strategy process again - it just kills me.
My best learning for strategy came from when I was working in the automotive domain. Those guys are super clear about what it takes to make a product succeed and crisp directional docs was one such tool. At the early stage, built a ‘concept note’ which was a sharp doc which clearly explained what, why and the how we’ll succeed with the next car we’ll build. It was one coherent document where multiple aspects worked together like music. Making that doc was the single most high leverage task I did early on in my career.
And the industry continues to inform my thinking even as I’ve transitioned to the software side.
I would say it’s not a fair comparison. Both industries have their unique set of characteristics and hence complexities.
While software can be iterated upon fairly quickly, it’s important to get things right in one go in the automotive world. So a fair share of time is spent on research, ensuring both general direction and specific elements work well ~4 years later (typical development timeframe excluding research). Also, the next iteration is highly constrained by the first one.
You can think of a strategy document as a common understanding and language amongst team members to know where they want to go as a company, and that is why I would recommend a startup to have it from the outset. Otherwise you could argue, why don’t you need a common understanding yet?
A couple of years ago, I worked with a client where we shared different interpretations of 'strategy' and it led to consistent problems in the entire project. I suspect just getting better at sharing common definitions will hep most people along the journey. Some of the questions remind me of my university days studying marketing strategy. Proof that many concepts are timeless.
In cases where I see lack of alignment on 'what is strategy' - it is often important to pose the question ''What will make us win/succeed?'. Answering this question is not easy and if you attempt, and wait enough time in the market, you will know how effective or ineffective your answer to this question was.
Thank you Bandan, solid framework. For the sake of making it explicit I’d add between 4. and 5. « What are our current weaknesses / gaps in adopting this strategy ? ». The solution to these will show up among other things in your 5. But taking the time to call out the weaknesses (and strengths in 4.) adds up to a diagnosis : to me that’s what most companies fail doing in many cases …
That is a good callout. For me, the weakness analysis is pretty much part of 4(Why us?) and 6(Which risks?). It is often true that companies avoid weaknesses and over index on strengths.
Great article. Thanks for writing this.
Would you be able to share an example strategy doc condensed from this framework?
Vidy, the 10 questions are the framework to draft the strategy. Are yoh looking for a sample strategy document based on this framework?
Yes, a sample document would be great. 🙌
Will plan a separate Productify post around it.
Hi Bandan, this post really helped me understand the difference between tactic and strategy. Keep the great work up :)
Glad it helped.
Really good and simple post about strategy.
Thanks Sergio, there’s nothing more complex to strategy than answering the 10 questions above, and then revisiting them at same cycle.
Sure thing. What I meant is that it is not full of blablabla as most articles surrounding the theme. I wrote something similar recently: https://www.productleadership.io/p/your-company-strategy-is-sht
Hey Sergio, thanks for sharing. That is a well written piece and I could relate to it throughout. Another aspect I often try to publish and say often is 'strategy revisit cycle' - often companies with BS strategies would end up getting a feedback from the market (lack of growth), and that should be a signal to do better at strategy in next cycle - but when companies ignore market feedback and continue to build BS strategy process again - it just kills me.
My best learning for strategy came from when I was working in the automotive domain. Those guys are super clear about what it takes to make a product succeed and crisp directional docs was one such tool. At the early stage, built a ‘concept note’ which was a sharp doc which clearly explained what, why and the how we’ll succeed with the next car we’ll build. It was one coherent document where multiple aspects worked together like music. Making that doc was the single most high leverage task I did early on in my career.
And the industry continues to inform my thinking even as I’ve transitioned to the software side.
Very interesting. Would you say it is much more complex to create products in modern software driven products vs. automotive industry?
Because according to me, the need for crisp strategy highly depends on the incremental complexity required to create the next iteration.
I would say it’s not a fair comparison. Both industries have their unique set of characteristics and hence complexities.
While software can be iterated upon fairly quickly, it’s important to get things right in one go in the automotive world. So a fair share of time is spent on research, ensuring both general direction and specific elements work well ~4 years later (typical development timeframe excluding research). Also, the next iteration is highly constrained by the first one.
That would make the strategy revision cycles fairly long in automotive. In software, typicallly strategies are revisited every year.
Insightful read. I like how you highlighted the importance of reassessing the strategy regularly to avoid rigidity and stagnation.
When so you see the product strategy document being implemented in the case of a startup. At what stage does it become mandatory?
Hey Bogdan,
You can think of a strategy document as a common understanding and language amongst team members to know where they want to go as a company, and that is why I would recommend a startup to have it from the outset. Otherwise you could argue, why don’t you need a common understanding yet?
This post is worth reading.
A couple of years ago, I worked with a client where we shared different interpretations of 'strategy' and it led to consistent problems in the entire project. I suspect just getting better at sharing common definitions will hep most people along the journey. Some of the questions remind me of my university days studying marketing strategy. Proof that many concepts are timeless.
In cases where I see lack of alignment on 'what is strategy' - it is often important to pose the question ''What will make us win/succeed?'. Answering this question is not easy and if you attempt, and wait enough time in the market, you will know how effective or ineffective your answer to this question was.
Thank you Bandan, solid framework. For the sake of making it explicit I’d add between 4. and 5. « What are our current weaknesses / gaps in adopting this strategy ? ». The solution to these will show up among other things in your 5. But taking the time to call out the weaknesses (and strengths in 4.) adds up to a diagnosis : to me that’s what most companies fail doing in many cases …
Thanks Thomas.
That is a good callout. For me, the weakness analysis is pretty much part of 4(Why us?) and 6(Which risks?). It is often true that companies avoid weaknesses and over index on strengths.