You’ve created a strategic plan for product development. How can you tell if it’s successful?

1 Define success criteria

The first step to assess your product development strategy is to define what success means for you and your product. Success criteria are the specific, measurable, and achievable outcomes that you want to achieve with your product development plan. They can be based on various factors, such as customer satisfaction, market share, revenue, quality, innovation, or impact. You should align your success criteria with your product vision, goals, and value proposition, and communicate them clearly to your team and stakeholders.

2 Track key metrics

Once you have defined your success criteria, you need to track the key metrics that reflect them. Metrics are the quantitative data that measure your product performance and progress. They can be divided into two types: lagging and leading. Lagging metrics are the results that you get after a certain period of time, such as sales, retention, or profit. Leading metrics are the indicators that predict or influence your future results, such as user feedback, engagement, or growth. You should choose the most relevant and meaningful metrics for your product and monitor them regularly.

3 Collect feedback

Another way to evaluate your product development strategy is to collect feedback from your customers and stakeholders. Feedback is the qualitative data that capture the opinions, preferences, and experiences of your target audience and partners. It can help you understand their needs, expectations, and pain points, and validate your assumptions and hypotheses. You can collect feedback through various methods, such as surveys, interviews, reviews, or usability tests. You should analyze the feedback and use it to improve your product and strategy.

4 Conduct reviews

A review is a formal or informal process of evaluating your product development strategy and performance. It can involve different levels and roles, such as self-review, peer-review, team-review, or stakeholder-review. The purpose of a review is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your product and strategy, celebrate the achievements and learnings, and address the challenges and risks. You should conduct reviews at regular intervals, such as weekly, monthly, or quarterly, and document the findings and actions.

5 Implement changes

The final step to assess your product development strategy is to implement the changes that you have identified from your metrics, feedback, and reviews. Changes are the adjustments or improvements that you make to your product or strategy based on the data and insights that you have gathered. They can be minor or major, depending on the scope and impact of the problem or opportunity. You should prioritize the most important and urgent changes, and test and measure their effects.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?