If you are stepping into a new organization in a senior product role, e.g. CPO, VP Product, you’ll likely inherit product, people, and process that need real work. The problems and their priorities you’ll need to focus on won’t be immediately clear because the org would have probably fixed them already. You’ll be expected to start contributing immediately and all eyes will be on you from day 1. ### Get clarity on the company 1. Funding 2. Org 1. Centers of power & influence 1. Sales led 2. Eng led 3. Product led 4. Services led 5. Investor led 3. Product 1. Product-Market Fit 2. Inbound bugs & feature requests 3. Tech debt 4. Existing product commitments: internal, external 4. Culture ### Define a “Snap Strategy” 1. Goal is to put something on paper ASAP that people can start to react to. It’s important to identify the sacred cows and hot spots. 2. You want to make it clear that you are going to hit the ground running while also putting in place a system for gathering information and making decisions. 3. What are the top 3 things the product org needs to deliver in the next 3 months. 4. With the exception of any red flags, you shouldn’t focus on these addressing the issues listed below but you should call them out for others to react to 1. Major org changes 2. Boil the ocean strategy ### Develop a “Durable Strategy” With an interim strategy in place you can start the deep work of developing and aligning on a strategy that will serve your organization for more than a few months. Steps include: 1. Establish the key strategic pillars 2. Assess the market & customers 3. Assess the org 4. Assess the culture 5. Assess the process 1. How are decisions made? 2. Who are the decision makers and what level in the org are they being made? #strategy