Identifying Market Opportunities
Wayne Gretzky, one of the world’s great hockey players, once said, “Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” The statement also applies to product management. To develop a clear vision for where you product should go, you need to anticipate shifts in the marketplace.
In recent posts, I’ve discussed how and where to find mission-critical information. Armed with this information, you now have what you need to begin formulating your vision.
The Product Manager’s Draft Product Strategy
In my last post I discussed creating a slide that roughs out your product vision. It should look something like this:
Copyright Greg Geracie, Take Charge Product Management 2010 – 2016
As you look at this chart, you’ll see it lays out your envisioned accomplishments in time and value to the customer. In the bottom left corner is where this product manager envisions his or her company being at year’s end. This is the starting point.
Creating Your Own Product Strategy
You can use the chart above as a model for creating your own strategy diagram. Once you’ve developed bullets to describe each stage in your product strategy, you’ll want to title each circle. Ultimately you’ll need to create a title for the whole process. Your own chart may have more phases, but typically a 3-5 year timeframe seems to work best.
A Word of Caution for Product Managers
It is critical that you be accurate in describing your starting point in the strategy draft. If reviewers don’t think the current situation is accurately reflected, they’ll question all your assumptions. Their faith in your vision will be undermined.
Fine-tune Your Strategy
Once you complete your draft product strategy review it carefully. Your draft will look different than the example because your product’s values are different. Capturing your company’s unique positioning and future is the essence of a well-constructed product strategy.
In my next post we’ll explore the step of successfully sharing your product vision with stakeholders.
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