Iterating on Product Strategy

Topics Covered

• What is product strategy anyway?

• The myth of the “explicit strategy” in most companies

• What discovery tells us about implicit strategy

• How product teams influence (and challenge) strategy

• Why writing any strategy down is better than none

• Shifting from top-down to emergent strategy

• The role of product leaders: Think customer interviews, but with your teams

• Balancing long-term macro trends with day-to-day user discovery

• Strategy ≠ roadmap: Keeping your plan for winning alive and adaptive

• Case studies: Intercom, Spotify, and strategy-in-action

• Product teams as strategic sensors: Patterns, signals, and customer segments

• Building strategy into quarterly and annual planning cadences

• Wrapping up: Strategy is iterative—so treat it that way

Resources & Links:

• Follow Teresa Torres: ProductTalk.org

• Follow Petra Wille: Petra-Wille.com

Mentioned in this episode:

• Roger Martin’s definition of strategy (rogerlmartin.com/thought-pillars/strategy)

• Lenny’s Podcast with Chandra Janakiraman (lennysnewsletter.com/p/an-operators-guide-to-p…), where he shares a framework for developing strategy

• Megan Murphy (linkedin.com/in/mmurphy9)’s “priming the wall” concept (petra-wille.com/blog/mtp-engage-leadership-for…), introduced in her talk at the - MTP Engage Leadership Forum

• 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy (amazon.com/7-Powers-Foundations-Business-Strat…) by Hamilton Helmer

• Blue Ocean Strategy (blueoceanstrategy.com/what-is-blue-ocean-strat…)

• Porter's Five Forces Framework (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter%27s_five_forces_a…)

• Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters (amazon.com/Good-Strategy-Bad-Difference-Matter…) by Richard Rumelt

• SWOT analysis (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis)

• Intercom (intercom.com)’s Fin AI (intercom.com/fin)

• Spotify (open.spotify.com)