As a product manager, you are responsible for creating and delivering software products that solve real user problems and create value for your customers and your organization. But how do you decide what to build, how to build it, and why to build it? That’s where product strategy comes in.

Product strategy is the high-level plan that guides your product development and execution. Product strategy defines your product vision, goals, value proposition, target market, differentiation, and roadmap. Product strategy also aligns your product with your company’s strategy, vision, and mission. But not all product strategies are created equal. Some product strategies are more effective than others, depending on how they are defined, structured, and executed. In this article, we will discuss some best practices for product strategy for software products, including: – How to create a product strategy – How to use some common product strategies – How to align your product strategy with your company strategy, vision, and mission

Creating a Product Strategy One of the key challenges of product strategy is creating a product strategy that is clear, coherent, and compelling. A product strategy that is clear, coherent, and compelling helps you communicate your product vision and value proposition, and helps you prioritize and execute your product roadmap. To create a product strategy, you can use the following steps as a guide: – Define your product vision: Your product vision is the overarching statement that describes what you want to achieve with your product, and why it matters. Your product vision should be inspiring, aspirational, and customer-centric. Your product vision should answer the question: What is the ultimate impact that you want to create with your product? –

Define your product goals: Your product goals are the specific and measurable objectives that support your product vision. Your product goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Your product goals should answer the question: How will you know if you have achieved your product vision? – Define your product value proposition: Your product value proposition is the unique and compelling benefit that your product offers to your customers. Your product value proposition should be clear, concise, and differentiated. Your product value proposition should answer the question: Why should your customers choose your product over other alternatives? – Define your product target market: Your product target market is the group of customers that you want to serve with your product. Your product target market should be well-defined, segmented, and validated. Your product target market should answer the question: Who are your ideal customers, and what are their needs and pain points? – Define your product differentiation: Your product differentiation is the distinctive and superior feature or quality that sets your product apart from your competitors. Your product differentiation should be relevant, defensible, and sustainable. Your product differentiation should answer the question: How is your product better or different than other products in the market?

Define your product roadmap: Your product roadmap is the plan that outlines the key features and milestones that you want to deliver with your product. Your product roadmap should be strategic, prioritized, and flexible. Your product roadmap should answer the question: What are the main steps and deliverables that you need to achieve your product goals?

By creating a product strategy, you can ensure that your product is clear, coherent, and compelling. You can also ensure that your product is actionable, trackable, and communicable. Using Common Product Strategies One of the benefits of product strategy is that it helps you choose and apply the best product strategies for your product. Product strategies are the approaches or methods that you use to achieve your product goals and create value for your customers and your organization.

There are many product strategies available, but some of the most common and effective ones are:

– Lean Startup: Lean Startup is a product strategy that focuses on building products that are validated by customer feedback and data. Lean Startup follows the build-measure-learn cycle, which involves creating a minimum viable product (MVP), testing it with real customers, measuring the results, and learning from the feedback. Lean Startup helps you avoid wasting time and resources on building products that nobody wants, and helps you iterate and improve your product based on customer needs and preferences.

– Agile: Agile is a product strategy that focuses on delivering products that are adaptable and responsive to changing customer and market demands. Agile follows the agile manifesto, which values individuals and interactions, working software, customer collaboration, and responding to change. Agile helps you deliver products that are high-quality, user-friendly, and timely, and helps you embrace and manage change and uncertainty.

– Design Thinking: Design Thinking is a product strategy that focuses on solving problems and creating solutions that are human-centered and empathetic. Design Thinking follows the five, which are empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Design Thinking helps you understand and address the real problems and needs of your customers, and helps you create solutions that are innovative, feasible, and desirable.

– Blue Ocean: Blue Ocean is a product strategy that focuses on creating products that are uncontested and unique in the market. Blue Ocean follows the blue ocean strategy, which involves creating a value innovation that combines high value for customers and low cost for the organization. Blue Ocean helps you avoid competing in the crowded and saturated red ocean of existing products, and helps you create a new and profitable blue ocean of new products.

These are some of the common product strategies that you can use for your product, but they are not the only ones. You can also use other product strategies, such as growth hacking, platform, freemium, etc. The best practice is to use the product strategy that suits your product goals, value proposition, target market, differentiation, and roadmap. Aligning Your Product Strategy with Your Company Strategy, Vision, and Mission.

One of the challenges of product strategy is aligning your product strategy with your company strategy, vision, and mission. Alignment is crucial for ensuring that your product is consistent and coherent with your organization’s direction and purpose, and that your product is creating value for your organization and your stakeholders. To align your product strategy with your company strategy, vision, and mission, you can use the following steps as a guide.

Understand your company strategy, vision, and mission: Your company strategy is the high-level plan that guides your organization’s growth and success. Your company vision is the overarching statement that describes what your organization wants to achieve and why it matters. Your company mission is the specific and measurable statement that describes how your organization will achieve its vision. You should understand your company strategy, vision, and mission, and how they relate to each other.

– Align your product vision with your company vision: Your product vision should support and complement your company vision, and should be aligned with your organization’s values and culture. Your product vision should answer the question: How does your product contribute to your organization’s vision and impact?

– Align your product goals with your company strategy: Your product goals should support and complement your company strategy, and should be aligned with your organization’s objectives and priorities. Your product goals should answer the question: How does your product contribute to your organization’s strategy and success?

– Align your product value proposition with your company mission: Your product value proposition should support and complement your company mission, and should be aligned with your organization’s purpose and benefit. Your product value proposition should answer the question: How does your product contribute to your organization’s mission and value?

By aligning your product strategy with your company strategy, vision, and mission, you can ensure that your product is consistent and coherent with your organization’s direction and purpose. You can also ensure that your product is creating value for your organization and your stakeholders.

In Conclusion Product strategy is a vital skill for product managers, as it helps you create and deliver software products that solve real user problems and create value for your customers and your organization. In this article, we discussed some best practices for product strategy, including: – How to create a product strategy – How to use some common product strategies – How to align your product strategy with your company strategy, vision, and mission. By following these best practices, you can ensure that your product strategy is clear, coherent, and compelling. You can also ensure that your product strategy is actionable, trackable, and communicable. And most importantly, you can ensure that your product strategy is impactful, and that you are creating value for your customers and your organization.