The Product Strategy Stack

The Product Strategy Stack is a system we can use for both planning and execution:

Tops Down: Teams can work from the top of the stack down to 1) define the stack, 2) work at a progressively finer level to plan product execution, and 3) align the company to that execution plan.

Bottoms-Up: In addition, teams can work bottoms-up to 1) communicate the status of execution and 2) track how well the product team's work is driving company-level objectives.

2 products that kinda have the same functionality. But very different:

Different Missions: Slack is for work and Discord is for play. One about productive communication another about connection

Different Company Strategies: Slack's strategy focuses on improving workplace productivity while Discord focuses on building communities, with a focus on gaming.

But, once we get into the product, things begin to look more similar. The user experience for both products is surprisingly alike. However even when both apps have a similar functionality, the reasoning is different. And subtle differences matter.

Many companies believe that teams should set goals first, then define the roadmap to meet those goals:

As a company, we know what we want to accomplish and we'll empower our teams to figure out how to do it.

This rarely works in practice. In the absence of any roadmap, teams are lost. This "goals first" approach incentivizes teams to do whatever it takes to achieve short-term goals, often at the expense of a focused features, UX etc.

Instead, goals should flow from a product roadmap that has been designed to deliver value to users. Instead of "seeing what sticks" to customer-centric.