10 ideas on Product Strategy, Positioning & the Art of Constraints
Your Product is Either a Vitamin or a Painkiller
When push comes to shove, budgets are tight and the future is uncertain, if your product doesn't solve a problem that is critical enough to get budget... You are a vitamin. The truth hurts, sorry. Better you know it now.
So the next question to ask yourself is 👉 how can you frame the problem you are solving as so mission critical to your customer's success that you transform into a painkiller?
2. Constraints Produce Better Work
Small teams and small budgets create constraints that help you focus. You can do big things with small teams - small is often plenty. You don’t need to outdo the competition by building more features, you need to out-simplify the competition by understanding and articulating the product, customer and market better than anyone else. When you have no constraints, you often produce slop. By imposing limits, you ensure that every decision and resource is directed towards what truly matters. This approach not only enhances efficiency but also fosters innovation and quality.
3. The Current Dogma ‘Strategy is Easy, Execution is Everything’ is Wrong
This is just my opinion so take it with that grain of salt.
There is a popular dogma today that strategy is ‘the easy part’ and execution is everything. You absolutely need both to succeed, but I think we are seriously undervaluing the role of great strategy in the outcome.
If you get the strategy wrong, you don’t get invited to the table, or into the conversation. All of your team’s great execution is multiplied by zero. Great execution multiplied by a poor strategy is a waste of everyone’s effort and time. Further, if your strategy isn’t clear, you can waste even more time - years and years - executing on something that was destined to never work. Being clear on expected outcomes from your strategy helps you have a clearer read on if you are going off course and when you need to tweak the strategy.
So what is a strategy? I really like the definition from Good Strategy Bad Strategy, by Richard Rumelt
A strategy is NOT an ambitious goal, a vision, an aspiration, or a set of financial outcomes.
A strategy IS a coherent plan in how you will apply your strengths in a leveraged way against a core important problem.
4. Before Developing Strategy, Be Clear on “What Hill Do We Want to Die On?”
What is the core belief that your company is fully committed to, even at the expense of other potential benefits? For instance, Apple prioritizes exceptional UX and hardware design, sacrificing openness and speed of innovation drops. Stripe focuses on being developer-first, sacrificing simplicity for non-developers. Slack champions asynchronous communication and integrations, at the expense of overwhelming notifications for large teams. By defining and committing to your "hill," you build a differentiator into your product strategy from day 1, immediately attracting customers who value that hill.
5. A Commitment to Ship Gets You Further
The tendency in big companies to put off, push away, over-analyze, do more research or [insert another reason to delay here] is very, very strong. I take a firm approach against this and believe in the art of shipping, action and moving forward. Act and move on. Commit to taking a step. If it is the wrong step, you’ll figure it out when you evaluate the results, and then you can act again — Iteration has always proven to be the best model for innovation. Most decisions are temporary and reversible anyways.
6. Product Dev Should Feel Like Chiseling a Sculpture
I love this analogy for explaining the ideal state of product development, likening it to chiseling a sculpture.
First, we determine what we’re building and why, shaping the initial form.
Then, we identify who cares about it and how to reach them, refining the details. We figure out how to stand out in a sea of competitors, carving unique features.
We craft narratives and tell the most compelling story to win, polishing the final piece.
Finally, we orchestrate the company to rally around goals that never end, like delivering the best customer experience and continually strengthening our foundation, ensuring we are always on a journey of growth and incremental improvement.
7. Whose Work Do You Admire?
I love this question, especially asking it in interviews to potential candidates. Admiring someone's work and articulating it pushes you to identify ‘what is great’ and ‘why’ clearly. It helps you recognize the traits you value most in design, experience and product ethos. For instance, do you admire a brand for their ability to create disruptive products, their relentless focus on user experience, or their ethical approach to business?
This reflection can reveal your own values and motivations. Are you driven by creativity, impact, or resilience? By aligning with intrinsic motivators, you ensure that your work remains fulfilling and purpose-driven.
I regularly ask myself "Whose work do you admire?" and write down why. It helps me stay focused on what truly matters and stands out. Embrace this question as a personal compass and let it steer you towards your next adventure.
8. Planning is Guessing Most of the Time
Plans are guesses. The longer-term the plan, the worse the guess. Replace years with months. 3 year plan? Make it a 3 month plan. 10 year plan? Make it a 10 month plan. Plan more often, not less often, but plan closer to today. The nearer-term your plans, the more accurate they’ll be.
9. Everything is a Tradeoff
Choosing one path always means forgoing another. Prioritizing speed means sacrificing thorough testing and quality. Focusing on feature-rich products compromises simplicity and user experience. When you realize that every decision is a trade off you start to think about decision making differently. Tradeoffs exist inside all conversations and decisions and it's important to acknowledge and make them transparent.
Transparency in trade offs is also critical to get everyone bought in faster. If a team knows that a feature was cut to maintain high performance, they are more likely to support and understand the decision, rather than feeling blindsided or frustrated. Acknowledging trade offs also helps in setting realistic expectations with stakeholders. By clearly communicating what will be gained and lost with each decision, you avoid overpromising and under delivering. This approach not only builds credibility but also ensures that all parties are aligned on the strategic direction.
10. Spending money on things you don’t need is a disease in life and business
This can manifest as spending on unnecessary tools, excessive staffing, or luxurious offices with perks no one cares about, all of which can dilute focus and reduce productivity.
Being Distracted
In its heyday, Yahoo had significant resources at its disposal but struggled to maintain focus. The company made numerous acquisitions and launched various services, from social media platforms to content production studios. However, many of these ventures did not align with their core business, leading to a lack of coherence and strategic direction. This scattergun approach ultimately diluted their brand and distracted them from strengthening their primary offerings like search and email services. The result was a decline in market relevance and financial performance, as competitors like Google, with a more focused strategy on search and data.
Thriving Under Constraints
When WhatsApp was developed, the company had a small team and limited resources. This constraint forced the founders to focus solely on creating a simple, reliable messaging app without any unnecessary features or distractions. They didn't invest in extravagant marketing campaigns or excessive office luxuries. Instead, they concentrated on delivering a superior user experience with minimal resources. This laser focus on simplicity and efficiency allowed WhatsApp to grow exponentially.
By embracing constraints and focusing on essentials you avoid the pitfalls of overconsumption and maintain a clear, productive path towards growth and success.
That’s all for today folks, hope you enjoyed!
