Templates
Skill

Product Strategy

The ability to define and drive product strategy

Product Strategy

Level 1

Is aware of and understands the strategy for their section of the product.

  • Competitor research: You understand the place your product has within the landscape of your competitors.

  • Vision: You are able to articulate why the product exists, where it's going and how to get there on a high level. You work alongside a senior colleague on future-thinking projects, and contributing to efforts to bring the results to life.

  • User focus: You can describe the typical user and some of their needs and problems. You understand a user first mindset.

Level 2

Is able to manage the strategy for a specific area of the product.

  • Competitor research: You research our competitors, the problems they are solving, and use this to inform our product strategy.

  • Vision: You are able to help carve the narrative of the product vision. You present that vision with conviction to stakeholders.

  • User focus: You reframe work that you and peers take on from a user-focused point of view. You ensure that every conversation you have with your team involves user needs.

Level 3

Is able to lead the team on strategy for an area of the product, ensuring alignment with business goals.

  • Competitor research: You have a deep understanding of our competitors. You can explain the why and how of their decision making, dissecting and incorporating where relevant into product strategy.

  • Vision: You are confident leading projects and groups to define and sell a coherent medium to long term vision, with milestones and short term actions to get there. You are able to align projects with business goals.

  • User focus: Your process involves the user from the first stage to the last. You question projects that ignore the user and push for better definition of outcomes. Your process has changed how your team works.

Level 4

Is a leader in the organisation on strategy across multiple areas of the product, always aligning with business goals.

  • Competitor research: You are predicting competitor growth based on your extensive knowledge of the industry. Your anticipation informs strategy across the product.

  • Vision: You are central to carving out and communicating the vision for the entire product experience based on research, competitors, and in house capacity. You ensure projects are aligned to ensure best progress on business goals.

  • User focus: You ensure that the entire organisation is customer-focused, actively designing better communication of and empathy with user needs through all channels.

Level 5

Is an expert in product strategy. Leads the organisation internally and externally in driving the development of the entire product.

  • Vision: You are leading the strategic efforts of the business, with a focus on broad product experience and user focused vision for the long term. You present the vision of the company or product regularly to execs, the board and investors. You have created complete clarity across the product, design and engineering teams around a common purpose.

  • User focus: You put in place and enforce process which forces their organisation or business to design for their users, resulting in material changes in company strategy. You're an advocate externally and have built the reputation of your company as user-focused.

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