Product strategy doesn't fail overnight. It fails through subtle decisions (or indecisions) that compound over time. In hindsight, it’s clear what lead to a product or feature that doesn't to ship or to deliver on its promise. When deciding on a strategy or executing one, it's too easy to pretend everything is OK and continue ahead. However, there are specific ways that product strategy will lead to a bad path. I call these the Four Horsemen of Product Strategy: Ignorance, Arrogance, Misalignment, and Short-Termism.
The First Horseman: Ignorance
Ignorance happens when product leaders, intentionally or unintentionally, don’t seek the insights they need to make better decisions. Intentional ignorance happens when there are hidden agendas and seeking the truth will undermine them. For example, a product leader who doesn’t want to confront the reality they shouldn’t be pursuing an opportunity. They will seek people and sources of information that validate their agenda. The unintentional version shows its head when leaders are not prepared or don’t know how to ask the right questions.
The Second Horseman: Arrogance
Hubris is widespread in the tech world. It’s when the 17th product manager of hot startup believes they only double their customer base because of their genius. It’s the big company exec that joins as CPO of a two-hundred person startup and knows exactly the direction the product must take on their first week on the job. Arrogance is the enemy of curiosity and listening to customers. When someone pounds the table and presents the new vision and direction with no one else's input. That's when the second horseman has entered the arena.
The Third Horseman: Misalignment
There are two types of misalignment that create internal battles. First, when team members have disagreements about what they are building. Second, when they disagree on why they are building. Both are terrible and they stem from the same root cause: a lack of understanding of the vison and the strategic choices made. This is a common symptom from when slide decks are used to paint a picture of a vision and a strategy. The gaps in how to describe these elements coherently cause people to fill them with their own assumptions. Only months or years later, people realize they are not on the same “page.”
The Fourth Horseman: Short-Termism
A strategy and a vision are not eternal. They can and should change when the market conditions change, when customers’ problems change, or when technology evolves—a.k.a., the pivot. However, they should last longer than the yogurt in your refrigerator. Short-Termism comes in the flavor of decisions that benefit a (vanity) metric in the weeks or months to come, selling the future to buy the present. It also comes in the flavor of a tactic disguised as a strategy.
The (Clarity) Shield
The easiest way to avoid the Four Horsemen of Product Strategy is to not invite them in! To accomplish that, make sure they don't have a seat at the table. There are tools to get this job done. Not surprisingly, PRFAQ is an ideal fit. You avoid oblivion and arrogance by ensuring that you start from the customer and reflect in collaboration with others. You prevent misalignment by ensuring team members have read and contributed to the vision and strategy. Finally, you avoid short-termism by painting a vision and mission that’s big enough, yet achievable.