The Hardest Challenges of Product Strategy with Marty Cagan
The Hardest Challenges of Product Strategy with Marty Cagan
Hey! Nacho here. I’m continuing the podcast episodes where I interview thought leaders about hard strategy topics. In past weeks, we released conversations with Teresa Torres, John Cutler, and Jeff Gothelf, and in upcoming episodes, we will feature Bruce McCarthy, Dan Olsen, and more!
So, if you are not a subscriber yet, this is a great time to join :)
Ready for some strategic wisdom?
In this episode, I had the honor of delving into the depths of product strategy with Marty Cagan, a true luminary in the field. I asked the hardest questions and tried to explore topics beyond what you would normally find in Marty’s writing.
From the pitfalls of neglecting strategy to the necessity of ongoing adaptation, Marty's insights are a game-changer for product leaders.
We explored controversial topics, such as why strategy trumps discovery and the critical role of top-level input in shaping successful product strategies.
But that's not all—we also discuss the significance of understanding team scope, capabilities, and experience, the role of strategy in budget allocation, and the importance of seeking guidance from experienced mentors.
Every part of the episode has actionable advice, which Marty very eloquently shares.
Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Google, and YouTube, and read on for my takeaways and highlights of the episode.
Takeaways
Marty shared that the reason many companies don’t have a product strategy is similar to why they don’t do discovery! Most companies decide what problems to focus on and what resources to allocate by assigning a certain percentage of their capacity to each business unit or department (associated with a stakeholder that will request what to build, ending up in a features roadmap).
This prevents looking holistically at the most important things to focus on and focusing resources on those things, which is the critical role of product strategy. The need for discovery is also obliterated since teams are given features to build.
Marty believes strategy can be even more important than discovery. If you are not doing discovery but focusing on the right things, you will be slow and wasteful but can eventually get there. If the strategy is wrong, it almost never works out.
The strategy needs to be developed with the company's senior leaders. When selecting the top-level focus, Product leaders will have a lot of input and opinions, but it is best to defer the final decision to the CEO. The case is similar for business strategy decisions: expansion, channels, etc. It will have a lot of product implications, and product leaders will have vital input, but it’s a CEO-level decision.
Since strategy involves selecting problems and handing them to teams, leaders must be conscious of team scope, capabilities, and experience and how they may need to reshape their organization to align with a new strategy.
For product strategy to work, there must be at least a “per team” budget allocation. If you are trying to fund projects and business cases, the principles needed for product strategy won’t work.
For leaders who haven’t done it yet, we discussed the importance of having someone help you along the way. If there is no one inside your company, a coach is the best option, as long as you have someone who has been there and done that.
Good strategies are constantly being updated based on the learnings of what’s going on in discovery, delivery, and generative research.
Where to Find Marty’s Work
svpg.com, where you can find the newsletter
Transformed is Marty’s newest book, and Empowered contains many topics we explored in the episode.
You can see a list of all episodes to date here.