A stable product technique takes time to construct. It often includes exhausting selections and non-trivial questions, which take time to reply nicely. It may’t be carried out in a rush, issues have to sink in as a way to suppose it by. Right here is the tactic I exploit for making a product technique that is sensible.
When I used to be in highschool, I had very lengthy hair. I’m extraordinarily tall, so after I say that my hair was operating right through my again, that’s quite a lot of a strategy to undergo. Sadly, after I was in highschool, my sisters who’re a lot youthful than me have been nonetheless on the age that that they had lice in school. And so, since I wished to maintain my lengthy hair lice-free I used to comb it utilizing lice comb each single day, 7 days every week.
It wasn’t a pleasure, but it surely was crucial. I can say that it additionally labored more often than not, and I saved my very lengthy hair till I used to be 25. It additionally signifies that I’ve quite a lot of expertise combing lengthy hair. We’ll get again to that in a minute.
After I speak to the startups I seek the advice of to, or with the CPO Bootcamp contributors, I all the time say that constructing a stable product technique isn’t like fixing a math equation. It’s not a fill-the-blanks train that you just full and that’s it. Within the strategy of constructing your product technique, you would want to face many non-trivial questions in addition to exhausting selections you would want to make. It must make sense to you (since if it doesn’t work no less than on paper it should by no means work in actuality), and connecting all of the dots in a posh world with infinite choices and plenty of unknowns is difficult.
Due to this fact, the method that I like to recommend for making a stable product technique is an iterative one. It’s good to work by your technique a number of occasions till it is sensible. These iterations aren’t like scrum sprints, as an alternative, they resemble the method that I am going by when combing lengthy hair. And please, in case your technique for combing lengthy hair is totally different, I ask that you just nonetheless follow mine — that’s why I shared with you the ten years of expertise I had with lice combs each day 😉 It really works for lice and it might work to your product technique, belief me.
By the best way, it additionally works for different strategic selections like a roadmap, OKRs, or deciding on a brand new org construction.
The combing technique is easy: If you comb a protracted hair you begin on the high and proceed till the comb can not go by and you’re caught. The hair is simply too tangled. At this level, it’s essential to untangle the problematic hair earlier than you proceed, or else you wouldn’t have the ability to get any additional. When the particular level is untangled, you begin once more from the highest and the comb will get additional out, however in all probability not but right through. It’s good to repeat it — untangle the problematic hair and begin once more from the highest. Ultimately, there will probably be no extra tangles and the comb will go easily from high to backside. That’s when you realize you’re carried out.
Now let’s see how every section applies to your strategic considering course of.
You all the time want to begin firstly. With something associated to technique, you wish to give as broad a context as doable. On high of that, individuals all the time perceive higher top-down than bottom-up. Give it some thought: in order for you somebody to attract based mostly on directions from you, it’s a lot simpler to inform them that you’re going to draw a cat after which clarify to them how to attract it, relatively than asking them to attract a circle, add two triangles on the high, a dot within the center and add straight traces from that dot sideways.
Since strategic discussions often occur in a gaggle type, it’s much more essential right here. The individuals within the room don’t solely want to listen to you out and perceive what you’re speaking about, but additionally make sense of their very own ideas all through the dialogue. They often don’t have all of it found out, even when a few of it was their thought to start with, and by taking them step-by-step from the highest you’re additionally serving to them suppose.
For those who put together for the dialogue, or whenever you begin fascinated with product technique all by your self, select the proper place to begin. Search for an anchor that has a basic settlement (though generally by calling it out loud you’ll be stunned to see that there isn’t actually). It could possibly be the objective you might have in entrance of you, the mission assertion or anything that folks would relate to. Then take it from there with logical steps that lead you towards the place you wish to be.
There are two types of being caught in such a course of: both individuals disagree with you (which as I stated can occur within the very first sentence of your product technique pitch), otherwise you misplaced your means and it doesn’t make sense to you anymore.
In each circumstances, you’ll want to perceive the place the issue is precisely. What do individuals disagree with you about? Don’t allow them to simply say “I disagree”, dive into the issue, ask them to explain how they see it, and pinpoint the disagreement. If you’re doing it by your self for now, take a step again and make clear for your self what precisely doesn’t make sense to you. Which dots don’t join, and even contradict one another.
It is very important perceive the issue in depth as a result of in any other case it is going to be very tough to resolve it, which is our subsequent step. Generally, by the best way, simply by understanding the place precisely you disagree with different individuals, the issue solves itself — you would possibly have the ability to discover analysis that helps one aspect of the argument, or perceive that the subsequent step is to conduct such analysis by your self.
Most often although, simply stating the issue isn’t sufficient. It’s good to dig by it and really determine it out. It’d take some backwards and forwards to get there. You would possibly have to check out just a few choices till you are feeling that what you now have is sensible. It’d take just a few back-and-forths simply to have the ability to perceive what bothers you, even earlier than you discover the reply.
It additionally could be that the change is greater than the particular level you’re caught at. For instance, you would possibly understand that you’ll want to inform the entire story from a special perspective. Do not forget that you are attempting to explain a posh world in a means that is sensible, and it’s not all the time straightforward. There are a number of methods to inform the story, and many alternative outcomes you can result in. Don’t let this discourage you from transferring ahead.
Making a product technique is likely one of the hardest issues you’ll want to do as a product chief (that’s why many firms merely skip it altogether), but additionally one of the vital essential. The influence of having the ability to type it by is immense, so make it your actual dedication to succeed regardless of the challenges.
If you write an e mail, do you learn it once more earlier than you ship to see if it is sensible and conveys the proper message? I do more often than not, and infrequently it causes me to revise them. That’s the way it works with strategic iterations as nicely.
Upon getting a brand new model of the product technique (or roadmap, or OKRs) you will need to begin telling it from the highest once more. It’s good to try this even when the highest didn’t change since strategic supplies are light creatures, and altering one half there may influence different elements and even the whole technique.
After I work with startups on creating their product technique, I often depart them with homework to revise the technique based mostly on at present’s dialogue earlier than our subsequent assembly. On the subsequent assembly, we begin from the highest. Sooner or later, they all the time ask that we begin from the center already, since all of us agree on the highest. I all the time refuse. The reason being easy: If we really agree on all the pieces, it is going to be very fast and straightforward to run by it from the highest, and we’d have it as contemporary context once we get to the half the place we disagree or that doesn’t make sense anymore. However generally, even when individuals suppose they agree, they really don’t, and we find yourself speaking about essential issues that may have blocked us later if we hadn’t mentioned them totally.
In a single such startup, that requested to begin within the center, we ended up spending a full hour discussing the primary sentence. It learn “we concentrate on the SaaS market”. I instantly felt it was too broad, and began asking exhausting questions: is any SaaS firm related to what we do? And what if a non-SaaS firm requested to work with us (that they had a know-how that might help that) — would we inform them to go away? It was these discussions that helped the founders create alignment on their targets in addition to the compromises they’re keen to make. It was an especially essential dialogue, and the subsequent time nobody wished to begin from the center.
If you would like your product technique and different strategic outcomes to make sense, it’s essential to take the time to iterate them repeatedly. Every time you might have a sense that one thing isn’t 100% proper, or that the next sentence isn’t derived instantly from what we stated up till now, cease and determine it out. Don’t be afraid to comb your technique as many occasions as wanted. Ultimately, the comb will go simply right through, and your technique will probably be extra stable than it had ever been.
