How to build a product strategy under uncertainty

Hey, and welcome to this newsletter. Here I share highlights from the conversations with product leaders in charge of innovations.

Santiago Cardona, MBA is a seasoned product leader with over ten years of experience in AI, ML, FinTech, Healthcare, and HR/Payroll tech. Currently, Santiago is the Director of Product Management at Fingercheck , a platform that transforms SMBs' internal processes with AI and automation for 100K active users daily.

In this episode, Santiago thoroughly discusses how to build an effective product strategy in times of uncertainty. He also shares his view on high-level product roadmaps and frameworks. Below are some takeaways from this episode.

There’s no right way of building product strategies

“A very common misconception in product management is they believe that there is only one right way to do things. Like here's the right way to build products. So it often stems from an understanding that when somebody implements a particular methodology or framework, they achieve good results. And then now we just assume that there is this universal formula for success, like the one-size-fits-all approach, but that's not it at all.

So I would say that a good strategy starts with a good, compelling vision for the company. And this is the foundation for an effective product strategy to be in place. Like, where are you going as a company? What is the future that you're trying to create? What is your north star? And that's truly what's going to guide your decision-making and being able to articulate where you're heading as an organization in the long term.

No matter what, you have to stay true to yourself, to what you set out to be your strategy. You have to understand what you are as an organization, right? So, what it comes down to, in my opinion, is focus. Your ability to focus. I love a phrase by Steve Jobs where he says that focus doesn't mean saying yes to a lot of things. It truly means saying no to a thousand things.”

High-level roadmaps make you more agile

“After having made a ton of mistakes, I've done pretty much all the types of roadmaps that you can do. I've done the spreadsheet. I've used the feature-driven roadmap. I've done the quarterly roadmap. I've done just so many.

Honestly, in my experience from what I've learned is that the product roadmap should be very simple and high-level because if you have a feature-based roadmap that is focused on outputs, like here are the many features that we're going to accomplish in Q1, Q2, Q3, that doesn't communicate your strategy. And it shows a lack of strategy, I would dare to say because a set of features does not reflect that you're working on the outcome. Like what is it that you're going to solve for your customers?

I always emphasize the importance of flexibility and iteration. So roadmaps don't have to be set in stone. I like the Now, Next, Later type of a roadmap, but keeping it high-level because that reflects our strategic objectives.”

Listen to your customers every week

“I honestly can tell you that you can't be successful in product management if you don't speak with customers directly. And I can tell you how many times I spoke with product folks at other organizations and you ask them, 'How often do you speak with customers?' 'Yeah, often.' 'Well, when was the last time you spoke with the customer?' 'Last month or I don't know.' Wow. I just don't understand that.

I make it a point to speak with customers so I can understand the feedback pain points directly but what that also helps me is to bring that back to my teams and say, hey, I was speaking with these customers. They're having a really tough time with this specific process or managing the workforce in this specific scenario. And here's how we think we can help them. Here's what success will look like for us.”

This just a small chunk of what Santiago has shared on the Cieden Podcast. Read the full discussion on our website.

That's all for today. If you think your colleague or friend could use these tips, go ahead and share this episode with them. Thanks!