What do you do if you're a product manager evaluating different strategic options?

As a product manager evaluating different strategic options, I would take several key steps: 1. Set clear objectives and success criteria. What is the goal of this strategy? How will we measure success? Well-defined objectives help in assessing which options are most suitable. 2. Gather customer data and insights. Understand user needs, challenges, behaviors, and market trends through market research, analytics, user testing, surveys, etc. This data will steer us toward the most viable strategic options. 3. Consider a variety of strategic alternatives. Don't confine yourself to just one approach. Brainstorm several unique strategies that could achieve your goals.

The JTBD (jobs to be done) framework is the best tool to understand the core user needs. To put it simply, a “job” is basically the progress a person is trying to make in a particular situation. A job is focused on the "outcomes" that the customers want to achieve. The JTBD framework suggests that customers don’t really buy products; they “hire” them to get a job done. People do not buy stuff, they buy what stuff does for them. Eg: many people don't buy a "phone", they buy a status symbol (phone being a social currency). A jobs-to-be-done perspective focuses on what causes a customer to buy a product rather than relying on the attributes (such as age, gender, or income) that are merely correlated with the buying behavior.

First off you should define your objectives clearly and articulate the goal or problem you are trying to solve. Collect any relevant data and information to understand the market/competitive landscape, customer needs and other factors that may influence decisions. Brainstorm with your team to explore different options that align with the objective and expectations. Evaluate and prioritize with your team using SWOT, cost-benefit analysis or decision matrices. Seek input and feedback from all Stakeholders involved, reevaluate priorities after you receive feedback and pivot if needed. Once you have identified the "best" solution develop an action plan and monitor it closely. Adapt when needed and communicate any changes or pivots clearly.

The key is to start by clearly defining your objectives and criteria for success. Next, thoroughly analyze each option, considering factors such as market demand, competition, resources required, and potential risks. Engage with stakeholders, gather diverse perspectives, and weigh the pros and cons of each option. Prioritise options based on alignment with company goals and feasibility. Finally, make data-driven decisions and be prepared to adapt your strategy as circumstances evolve

Strat with the customer ! Spend a lot of time debating and understanding who your target customer is and what problem will your product or service solve for this customer. Choose problems that are absolute pain killers over problems are vitamins ! That said sometimes customers might not know that your solution could be a major efficiency driver. Call that out and make a specific strategy for this kind of product.

In the realm of strategic decision-making, it's imperative to begin by assessing the needs of both customers and the business. Dive deep into customer feedback, market research, and user data to gain profound insights into what truly matters to your users. Concurrently, conduct a comprehensive analysis of your company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) to discern how these factors might impact strategic pathways. This dual perspective provides a solid foundation for evaluating various strategic options and pinpointing those that harmonize most seamlessly with both customer preferences and business goals.

Assessing the need for product revamp and technology upgration is one of the crucial factor for current product sustainability which should aligned to market analysis and technology as well. Growth should be future perspective considering no impact for ongoing users.

As a Product Manager, market analysis helps you understand your business and leading competitors, gather data, and learn about marketing trends. Benchmarking, a strategic technique, allows you to analyze your company's position among the leading competitors and uncover your company's unique selling points. Today, with the power of AI, you can swiftly identify market trends and competitor advantages, giving you a competitive edge and a more strategic approach to your business. By understanding the marketing and your users' pains, you can gather insights, uncover your users' needs, and bring great solutions to generate value.

Market analysis makes you understand about the industry, competitors , regulations and rules. For different strategic pursuit, industry interactions in the form of webinars, conferences and discussions with industry analysts goes a long way to help you.

Map the market using any popular frameworks … usually a 2X2 that uncovers your value in the space . Look for factors like competitive crowding vs risk in market gaps. Note just because there is a gap in the market does not necessarily mean there is a market in the gap!

A thorough market analysis is essential. You need to fully grasp the competitive landscape, market trends, and where your product stands in the mix. Analyze what your competitors are doing well or poorly, and pinpoint any gaps in the market that your product could fill. This analysis will give you insights into how to increase your product's market share or improve its positioning. Understanding the market landscape is key to making informed strategic decisions.

Market analysis for new product and existing product is very crucial. Focus on market trend with respect to technology trend as well. Some time refactoring of product also required where user experience is significantly improved but product should be bug free. New features should come in product as per trend. Sometimes not following trend but leading the trend as per market analysis and A/B testing.

Preventing any Risk or threat is an identification of being strategic. Typically for a tech product risks could primarily be like cybersecurity threats, system crash or tech fault , financial risks etc which can either damage the Product and team internally or can take away the Users in case of system crashes. To prevent such risks partnerships there shall be strong Cybersecurity systems, the partnership shall be there with reputable institutions which ensures safety compared to relatively less reputed institutions.

Call out your assumptions, risks and mitigation. Strategic planning is for the most part future casting which we humans are not quite equipped to do accurately. It’s almost always wrong. The value in the exercise is surfacing the assumptions and risks.

Risk evaluation for product means while upgrading the product current user experience should be improved. Risk related to fast pacing technology like Gen AI and AI/ML should also be a perspective. Risk related to disaster management. Risk related to regulation is very important like happened in many product for downfall.

Many marketers are good storyteller and good at pitching to bosses. But when their story only only show ideas and not back by data and financial forecasts, It is hard for bosses to give a go on the proposal. When thinking strategically and detail action plans for execution, we need to consider all expenses that will incur and revenue to be generated. And we have to put it into our story and present clearly to the bosses.

While business plans and financial forecasting is important it’s always wrong . So the value is in the process where key assumptions, risks and their motigations are surfaced.

Applying decision frameworks helps a lot to choose the best option that leads to your objective. In my company, we create a Confluence page with the next information: — Background (where provide all data necessary to make a decision) — Options considered (with prons and cons) — Action items — Outcome

There are plenty of decision frameworks which all come down to risk vs reward. Make sure if you are taking a high risk the reward is worth it and also make sure your portfolio balances risk .

All decisions are effectively bets on the future. We can take better decisions by increasing how well informed we are. We can only get to 100% certainty / 0% risk after the fact, but by then it's too late to do anything with that information. (Hindsight is always 20:20.) So we have to weigh up the relative risk, the impact of a poor decision against the likely reward - then assess our confidence in that assessment. Think about whether the decision is easily reversible or one-way. One-way decisions need much more careful consideration. Think also about the impact of the decision. If it only affects a small, inconsequential group of people, the outcome of the decision is less important, so you can spend less effort on it. And vice versa.

Decision framework should be based on data and risk analysis. Management decisions for growth of product has high impact like prioritisation and cost incurred, economics of product development.

Continuing with the example of a Fintech Product, whatever strategic approach has been planned the common ways to implement it and monitor the implementation shall be like. Implementation 1.) Develop a plan for app, development, testing and launching 2.) Allocate resources efficiently and develop iteratively perhaps using agile methodologies. 3.) Collaborate between different teams(Tech, design , marketing) to effectively bring out the result as per the Product Vision. Monitoring 1.) Define Key Metrics like App downloads, User Engagement 2.) Gather feedback effectively to know whether the User is satisfied 3.) Conduct Regular Product Performance reviews. A similar approach would ensure efficient implementation and effective monitoring.

💡 In one instance, we were considering whether to introduce a new line of modular cabinets or to enhance our existing product range. 📊 To make an informed decision, I conducted market research, analyzed consumer trends, and assessed production capabilities. 🤝 I collaborated closely with the sales and marketing teams to understand customer preferences and competitive landscapes. 🚀 After weighing the pros and cons of each option, we decided to enhance our existing product range based on its strong market presence and alignment with our manufacturing capabilities.

Take Fintech sector and as a PM for evaluating different strategic options would go beyond market analysis and User feedback. If I am the PM, I would delve into the understanding how to the process of transparency, financial decision making, security system works at the roots since in my mind these are the basic most important functionalities in such products. For being strategic I would explore several technologies and how they can be leveraged eg Blockchain(To Enhance Security Systems), AI for making things easy etc. Further for being strategic working on Vision and turning it into reality to keep the Product worth it for Users by actually executing what has been thought is most essential for most of the Products.

Gathering input from both internal and external stakeholders is invaluable, as it brings diverse perspectives and insights to the table. By listening to a range of voices, we uncover opportunities, anticipate challenges, and ultimately make more informed decisions.

Establishing clear evaluation criteria and remaining open-minded throughout the analysis process helps ensure that options are interpreted objectively. Ultimately, prioritizing fairness and objectivity in option analysis leads to more effective problem-solving and fosters a culture of continuous improvement within the organization.