What are the most commonly used product strategy frameworks?

Product strategies require a perspective that's based asking and answering five questions: 1. Where have we been? Prior period business and financial contributions to the product's business. 2. Where are we now? What's the current state of the product's business? 3. Where should we go? What's the vision and associated goals that allow us to establish direction? 4. How will we get there? What are the most important strategic initiatives and investments that will allow us to achieve our goals? 5. How will we know? What are the key performance metrics that will allow us to restrategize? I've written about this extensively in my book < The Product Manager's Desk Reference (3e) as well as the mini-book, How to Create a Winning Strategy

Vision, strategy and roadmap is a popular format Vision - ambitious statement of intent for next 5-10 years Strategy - multiple objectives which will contribute to you vision. Commonly broken down into quarterly okr’s Roadmap - developments which will contribute to the quarterly okr goals

Product strategy should always be comprised of two key questions: - Customer need which is being catered by the product? - Value it derives for a sustainable business model? Based on this we can implement different approaches depending upon what suits best at a certain time to achieve the bigger objectives. Hence, its a continuous and flexible process!

Selecting Product Strategy Framework depends on company’s USP & mission. By evaluating following aspects, you can choose the framework that best aligns with your unique context. What are business goals? Identify the specific business objectives to achieve with your product. Are you aiming for rapid growth, market expansion, or profitability? Who is our target customer? Understand your target customer's needs, preferences, and pain points. What's the competitive landscape & the market dynamics? Assess the market's stability, competitive environment and rate of change. How mature is the product? The stage of your product's lifecycle matters. What resources do we have? Consider available resources, including budget, talent, and time.

JTBD goes a long way. The key premise of Jobs-to-be-Done is that people buy products to fulfill a fundamental need - to get a "job" done. By understanding the multifaceted dimensions of the user's job, companies can uncover opportunities through research into workflows, barriers, outcomes, and segmentation. It focuses on how well products help users get the job done rather than product features. The goal is to optimize products for the underlying job-to-be-done. JTBD is problem focused vs other frameworks that can tend to be solution focused.

n my opinion, OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) offer substantial advantages. They foster alignment by connecting individual and team objectives with the broader company mission. OKRs provide clarity, focus, and accountability through measurable key results. They encourage adaptability and frequent review, promoting a culture of learning and improvement. Additionally, they enhance communication, efficiency, and transparency, making them a valuable framework for goal setting and performance management. In my Experience it is one of the most easy ways to communicate goals across multiple stakeholders

I agree that OKRs provide an effective product strategy framework for the following reasons… There is alignment: OKRs ensure everyone works together toward common goals. There is focus: They help teams concentrate on a small number of important priorities. There is effective measurement: OKRs use clear targets for tracking progress and success. Overall, OKRs provide a structured approach to setting, measuring, and achieving product-related goals, making them a valuable framework for product strategy in tech companies or in most industries.

OKRs can be a great way of expressing the strategy. But it isn't the strategy itself. OKRs are a way of executing on the strategy by describing which outcomes your team is working towards, and how you measure progress towards that outcome. The strategy itself, however, should be a longer term plan for how the company plans to overcome the main barriers to achieving its goals. Richard Rumelt describes this very simply in his strategy kernel: diagnosis, guiding policy, coherent actions.

Objectives are high-level, qualitative goals that articulate what you want to achieve. They should be ambitious, motivational, & align with UR company's mission & vision. Objectives should inspire, guide the team toward a common purpose. Eg: "Improve customer satisfaction & loyalty." Key Results are specific, quantifiable, & time-bound metrics that measure your progress toward achieving the Objective. They are the actionable steps that indicate whether you're making meaningful progress. Key Results should be realistic yet challenging. Eg: Increase Net Promoter Score frm 50 - 70 within next quarter. Reduce customer support response time frm 24 hours - 4 hours by end of the year. Achieve customer retention rate of 90% by end of fiscal year.

The implementation of Objectives & Key Results within our Organization, really improved focus, alignment, and measurable progress. It especially helped our business team to sharpens their focus on a critical goal and provides clear metrics for success.

Just to add a bit: while the VPC is a fantastic tool for understanding and articulating product value, it's also a brilliant communication tool. When teams across an organization, from marketing to sales to development, have a clear picture of the customer's world and the product's place in it, silos break down. Everyone starts speaking the same language. And there's another underrated aspect: empathy. By deeply diving into the customer's pains and gains, teams can cultivate a genuine empathy for the user, which often leads to more intuitive and user-friendly product designs. It's not just about aligning the product with the customer, but also about aligning the entire organization with the user's journey.

In would also like to add the Mission Canvas that can be adapted to the portfolio along with the Jobs to be done framework in conjunction with the Buisness Model Canvas and the Value Proposition Canvas. There also needs to be an established experimentation process to validate a hypothesis with customers before making a larger commitment. This de-risks the execution of product strategy and prioritises value delivered to the customer all within an atmosphere of collaboration within the cross functional team.

Product strategy frameworks are essential for product managers to define, communicate, and execute their product vision and goals. The LC focuses on the problem-solution fit and the product-market fit and consists of nine blocks. However, it’s important to remember that no single framework can solve all problems. Product managers should choose the framework that best suits their context and challenges. For optimal growth, one must embrace changes to glean wisdom from others and test through trial and error. Through taking such action, they can craft superior goods and services that satisfy the necessities of their clientele, shareholders, and internal groups.

Product strategy should fit into the company's overall strategy by describing the problems that the product, tech, and UX team are particularly well equipped to solve. Although their skills and capabilities in the product domain are different from, say, the marketing department, or the logistics department, I believe Rumelt’s strategy kernel can be universally applied, regardless of domain. Here's how I would adapt it to a product context: 1. Diagnosis: Identification of the biggest challenges to solve 2. Guiding policy: A set of overall strategies you believe might solve the challenges 3. Coherent actions: The tactics you’ll employ to deliver on each strategy, expressed in your OKRs and roadmaps

There isn't a single "best" framework for Product Strategy and Management. Be flexible and use the one most suitable for the situation at hand. Are you trying to figure out how your product addresses customer pains? Perhaps use VPC then. Maybe you are clear on how your product adds value for the consumer, but unsure about whether it makes sense for the business stakeholders? Then BMC is the name of the game. They are all great tools, but we got to pick the right one!