From the course: Product Management: Building a Product Strategy

Make strategy work

From the course: Product Management: Building a Product Strategy

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Make strategy work

- Sometimes it's perfectly fine to come up with plans that are purely theoretical. In fact, many consulting companies would do that for a hefty fee. They'd come up with detailed plans using all the right methods and best practices but many times more than they'd like to admit, these great plans end up collecting dust on a shelf somewhere. If you want to develop a strategy that goes beyond your imagination, it's important to realize that it's not just the what that matters, but also the how. How you go about developing your strategy matters a lot. It's going to determine whether or not you'll be able to build the necessary support for it across the organization. If you cannot build broad support and generate strong momentum, your plan will be dead on arrival. You see strategy development is a team sport, not an individual one. Before you even get started, you'll be wise to identify the key stakeholders who should be involved in the process. These are the people whose input you should seek and whose support you should cultivate. As you begin to work on the strategy, cast a wide net. Collect input from a wide range of people with a variety of perspectives. Pay attention to what others are doing, like investors and competitors and take that into consideration. Examine as many signals as possible when forming your view on the nature of the opportunity and then choose how to pursue it. Once you see specific choices starting to emerge, don't wait for all the pieces to fall into place. Take others along with you for the ride. Let them help set the direction that you're all move towards together. And as things come together, communicate broadly and frequently. Figure out how to tell a good story that excites people and inspires them to take action. When the finish line is in sight, start shifting your focus from strategy to execution. Help everyone involved turn strategy into concrete action. Getting an organization to embrace a strategy and execute it is not easy either. You need all the help you can get.

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