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Four key Strategy takeaways
1. It’s a set of choices
2. You work backwards from a client-centric problem
3. It’s fundamentally creative
4. You seek to influence, but recognize you don’t control the Outcome
Planning
Planning, by contrast, is a fundamentally analytical and internal-centric approach to laying out a series of activities.
Planning involves sequencing how you will bring certain internal organizational resources (people, time, software, knowledge, money) to bear in ways you hope will accomplish a seemingly-sensible set of “initiatives.”
Outputs
The result of these planning activities are known as “Outputs” — lines of software code written, interfaces designed, software upgrades implemented, platforms “lifted and shifted.”
The important contrast with Strategy is to recognize *Planning is always within your control*. Perhaps this is what makes it preferred by many in business — there’s a great sense of comfort in focusing on only that which you can control.
If you have a Product Manager title, yet spend all your time in meetings with stakeholders, planning activities, and creating Roadmaps and budgets, you’re really a Project Manager.
Four key Planning takeaways:
1. It’s a sequence of activities
2. It’s Internal-centric
3. It’s fundamentally analytical
4. You are in full control the Outputs you create
Boost Your Product Management Skills Through Strategy, Planning, and OKRs
Michael Goitein
Then come the four OKR “superpowers”: focus, align, track, and stretch.
Measure What Matters
John Doerr
***Where we think Product Strategy Starts and Ends***
Product strategy is positioned between business strategy and execution. Inputs to product strategy include; the organisation's mission, vision, and strategy, along with product insights, market insights, and customer insights.
Outputs from product strategy typically consist of defined objectives and outcomes, success measures, hypotheses, and actionable framing for teams. Downstream from product strategy, one finds roadmaps, requirements documents, and feature specifications. While detailed artefacts may not always accompany product strategy, clear direction is essential for effective implementation.
***Defining Product Strategy:***
Product Strategy as a Living Conversation
Product Breaks
...catch up on these, and many more highlights
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