# **Summary**
1. Articulates strategy on why and how an opportunity should be pursued
2. Considers roles of competitors, partners, and regulators
3. Identifies related technologies, trends, and standards
4. Sets and drives a long term business strategy across product & service elements
5. Connects short-term and long-term product strategy and roadmap in complex and fast moving industries
# Attributes
## 1. Articulates strategy on why and how an opportunity should be pursued
References
- Understanding general strategic principles
- [Stratechery by Ben Thompson – On the business, strategy, and impact of technology.](https://stratechery.com/)
- [An introduction to Aggregation Theory | by Fredrik Haga | Medium](https://medium.com/@hagaetc/an-introduction-to-aggregation-theory-7cea63cc0e20)
- [Mintzberg - Crafting Strategy.pdf](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KJewiGzzzR8HGt5CEVMNHxDN_e8_yIcC/view?usp=sharing)
- Strategy frameworks
- [“How to build a strategy in an agile environment” talk for The Product School ](https://chrizbot.medium.com/how-to-build-a-strategy-in-an-agile-environment-resources-621e37f32803)
- [Have you tested your strategy lately? ](https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/have-you-tested-your-strategy-lately)
- [https://medium.com/@shreyashere/good-product-strategy-bad-product-strategy-826cdfe74818 ](https://medium.com/@shreyashere/good-product-strategy-bad-product-strategy-826cdfe74818)
- [Rocking at Product Strategy: 3 steps and 10 tools to succeed where most companies fail](https://medium.com/swlh/rocking-at-product-strategy-3-steps-and-10-tools-to-succeed-where-most-companies-fail-98e64246bdc)
## 2. Considers roles of competitors, partners, and regulators
References
- Understanding the value chain: [https://sean.horgan.net/d/_d3H4GIs7zuo/_suCg080x](https://sean.horgan.net/d/_d3H4GIs7zuo/_suCg080x)
- Understanding competitors
- [Comparative Research Done Right](http://eleganthack.com/comparative-research-done-right/)
- [Steve Blank A New Way to Look at Competitors](https://steveblank.com/2013/11/08/a-new-way-to-look-at-competitors/)
- [Why the Petal Diagram Isn't the Best Competition Diagram for Startup's Pitch by @ttunguz](https://tomtunguz.com/ecosystem-vs-competition/)
- [The right way to challenge your competitors | Inside Intercom](https://www.intercom.com/blog/videos/comparative-marketing/)
- [How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy](https://hbr.org/1979/03/how-competitive-forces-shape-strategy)
- [Making Sense of Technological Ecosystems](https://learnwardleymapping.com/2020/07/24/making-sense-of-technological-ecosystems/)
## 3. Identifies related technologies, trends, and standards
References
- Innovation
- [The idea maze](https://cdixon.org/2013/08/04/the-idea-maze) - [cdixon _ The idea maze.pdf](https://drive.google.com/file/d/19hnoDeb7n-1nCEYomdgjbRNUFScukE-k/view?usp=drive_link)
- [Improve Your Product Team's Combat Effectiveness (Part 1) | by Eric H. Kim | Practice Product](https://medium.com/practice-product/improve-your-product-teams-combat-effectiveness-part-1-c7e95b1a0d89)
- [A Taxonomy of Moats | Reaction Wheel](https://reactionwheel.net/2019/09/a-taxonomy-of-moats.html) - [A Taxonomy of Moats _ Reaction Wheel.pdf](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q2I4gB4E86Dzy_tecYxSySYPb9H4io1d/view?usp=drive_link)
- [(notes on) 7 Powers: Foundations of Business by Hamilton Helmer](https://chrisstoneman.medium.com/notes-on-7-powers-foundations-of-business-by-hamilton-helmer-5d20cfecc753)
- [How Strategy Shapes Structure](https://hbr.org/2009/09/how-strategy-shapes-structure)
- [The 5 Disqualifiers of Strategy](https://arkaro.com/the-5-disqualifiers-of-strategy/)
- Accepts [Roy Amara](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Amara)‘s law: “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.”
## 4. Sets and drives a long term business strategy across product & service elements
References
- Strategy processes - how to get the organization aligned on strategy
- [The Secret to a Great Planning Process — Lessons from Airbnb and Eventbrite](https://firstround.com/review/the-secret-to-a-great-planning-process-lessons-from-airbnb-and-eventbrite/)
- [#10 How to Run A Quarterly Product Strategy Meeting | by Gibson Biddle | Medium ](https://gibsonbiddle.medium.com/10-the-quarterly-product-strategy-meeting-b5c0c1b12722)
- [Template: Company Strategy](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JI73WrGplrhNE46aLyRD_B74gEynI77EPgXn1ic6WeQ/edit#)
- [https://sean.horgan.net/d/_d3H4GIs7zuo/_suIevs8G#_lud3Shr-](https://sean.horgan.net/d/_d3H4GIs7zuo/_suIevs8G#_lud3Shr-)
- [Innovation Resources](https://kromatic.com/innovation-resources)
## 5. Connects short-term and long-term product strategy
*Note: I’m rewriting this at the moment*
From Andy Grove’s [High Output Management (Chapter 6):](https://medium.com/@iantien/top-takeaways-from-andy-grove-s-high-output-management-2e0ecfb1ea63)
*Manage short-term objectives based on long-term plans. Be thoughtful about long term plans: 1) size your market, 2) know where you are, 3) find a hypothetical path to meet demand. Move towards long term plans using short-term Objectives (sub-goals) and corresponding Key Results (clear, unambiguous milestones to pace progress).*
Simple frameworks like McKinsey’s Three Horizons look nice when presented on a slide but they often hide more than they reveal. Having said that, it's worth learning it as you'll see it pop up so here’s a quick overview on the basics:
1. Horizon 1 ideas provide continuous innovation to a company’s existing business model and core capabilities in the short-term.
2. Horizon 2 ideas extend a company’s existing business model and core capabilities to new customers, markets, or targets.
3. Horizon 3 is the creation of new capabilities and new business to take advantage of or respond to disruptive opportunities or to counter disruption.
Steve Blank wrote the following in this [HBR article](https://hbr.org/2019/02/mckinseys-three-horizons-model-defined-innovation-for-years-heres-why-it-no-longer-applies):
*However, the trap of the Three Horizon model is not recognizing that today many disruptions can be rapidly implemented by repurposing existing Horizon 1 technologies into new business models — and that speed of deployment is disruptive and asymmetric by itself.*
References
- [McKinsey's Three Horizons Model Defined Innovation for Years. Here's Why It No Longer Applies.](https://hbr.org/2019/02/mckinseys-three-horizons-model-defined-innovation-for-years-heres-why-it-no-longer-applies)
# Strategy Frameworks
More senior PMs should be very familiar with common strategic theories and easily separate useful frames from buzzword bingo. I’ve laid some here in [https://sean.horgan.net/d/_d3H4GIs7zuo/_su0hQ-cZ#_lugwHZYt](https://sean.horgan.net/d/_d3H4GIs7zuo/_su0hQ-cZ#_lugwHZYt) but these are pretty well tuned to my experiences in tech.
# Books
If I had to recommend one book on strategy, it would be Richard Rumelt’s Good Strategy/Bad Strategy. I’ve included a few links to summaries below along with a few other must reads:
- [Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11721966-good-strategy-bad-strategy?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=RoCofXBoMm&rank=1) - Richard Rumelt
- [Notes from “Good Strategy / Bad Strategy” by Jeff Zych ](https://jlzych.com/2018/06/27/notes-from-good-strategy-bad-strategy/)
- [https://youexec.com/book-summaries/good-strategy-bad-strategy#](https://youexec.com/book-summaries/good-strategy-bad-strategy#:~:text=Rumelt%20defines%20the%20'kernel'%20of,the%20stage%20for%20focused%20action).
- [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/58895961-the-crux](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/58895961-the-crux)
- [Good Strategy, Bad Strategy | Richard Rumelt](https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/good-strategy-bad-strategy-richard)
- [What is Strategy?](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vxNE47cFE5rVp-K9I5MN6iCo8zCSrJ1Y/view?usp=sharing) - Porter
- [FT Guide to Strategy: How to Create and Deliver a Winning Strategy by Richard Koch](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/209273.FT_Guide_to_Strategy) - comprehensive index of common strategic frameworks with great references to deeper reading
- [Strategy: Create and Implement the Best Strategy for Your Business](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/324807.Strategy?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=J0MQrUThOZ&rank=1)
- [The Art of Action](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9973202-the-art-of-action) by Stephen Bungay
- [The Alchemy of Growth](https://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Growth-Practical-Insights-Enterprise/dp/0738203092/ref=as_li_ss_tl?keywords=The+Alchemy+of+Growth&qid=1567192876&s=gateway&sr=8-1&linkCode=sl1&tag=teresatorres-20&linkId=55d0e0897ab006e18f47d9dcf9b1e34c&language=en_US) by Mehrdad Baghai and others
# Quotes
*“Good strategy is coherent action backed up by an argument, an effective mixture of thought and action with a basic underlying structure I call the kernel.”*
- Richard Rumelt Good Strategy Bad Strategy: the difference and why it matters
From [Shreyas Doshi](https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1316573473934696449): Most execution problems are really
- 1) Strategy problems, or
- 2) Interpersonal problems (individuals) or
- 3) Culture problems. (difference between stated values and accepted behavior)
From [Think like a farmer](https://twitter.com/gregisenberg/status/1694042416422981736?s=20)
![[Pasted image 20250830164831.png]]