Musings on Product Strategy
What is Product Strategy, Really?
The internet overflows with definitions of product strategy—some good, some bad, many vague. You’ll often see it described as high-level planning, big-picture thinking, alignment, long-term goals, product roadmaps, prioritization, vision, ambition, and more.
But here’s the thing: before we can define product strategy (or marketing strategy, sales strategy, or growth strategy), we need to understand what strategy itself actually means.
What Makes a Good Strategy?
Richard Rumelt, in his book Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, cuts through the noise:
“Good Strategy does not pop out of some ‘strategic management’ tool, matrix, chart, triangle, or fill-in-the-blanks scheme. Instead, a talented leader identifies the one or two critical issues in the situation—the pivot points that can multiply the effectiveness of effort—and then focuses and concentrates action and resources on them.”
In other words, strategy is about discovering the critical factors in a situation and designing a way to coordinate and focus your actions to address them.
Hamilton Helmer offers an even simpler take in 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy:
“Strategy is a route to continuing Power in significant markets.”
Both definitions are elegant, but I find Rumelt’s more practical for defining product strategy. It gives us three essential elements—what Rumelt calls “the kernel of strategy”:
- Diagnosis – Understanding the challenge
- Guiding Policy – Choosing your approach
- Coherent Action – Executing in a coordinated way
Defining Product Strategy
Using this framework, a product strategy should:
- Diagnose the Challenge – Honestly acknowledge and describe the problems your users, customers, or business face.
- Focus Your Efforts – Channel attention toward the critical business problems your product or features can meaningfully impact.
- Create Coherent Action – Set a coordinated action plan for your product teams, including how you’ll allocate resources and budget.
- Measure Progress – Define metrics to track your progress and results.
Think of product strategy as the bridge between your product vision and your team’s execution on the ground.
The One-Line Definition
If I had to distill all of this into a single sentence, here’s what I’d say:
Product strategy is a coherent set of actions that focuses a product team’s efforts on diagnosing critical business challenges and achieving meaningful business outcomes.
It’s not about fancy frameworks or buzzwords. It’s about clarity, focus, and coordinated action that moves the needle on what truly matters.