4. Foraging for Strategy

There is no single set of strategic documents. The PMs are struggling to prioritize, or make prioritization decisions in conflict with each other.

4. Foraging for Strategy
I do not know how to identify mushrooms safely. Foraging for strategy can also be dangerous.

The Head of Product Playbook is about tactics, not strategy. But in this issue, I offer a tactical pattern for understanding the strategic material that your product department is swimming in. It's a play I often use when joining a new company.

Context

There is no single set of strategic documents. Perhaps there are a set of Confluence pages that seem out-of-date. The PMs:

  • are struggling to prioritize, or
  • make prioritization decisions in conflict with each other, or
  • the executives are unhappy with the decisions the PMs are making, or
  • PMs are complaining about under-investment in their teams, even though the portfolio seems roughly correct to you.

Most companies have some kind of strategy, but it's not enough, or it's not clear. As an arriving product leader, I need to identify what's out there. I'm trying to diagnose which of these 4 states we are in:

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Jamie Larson
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