# Strategic Thinking > Distilled from [[Strategic Insights]] ## When to use Activate when writing product strategy, evaluating strategic proposals, conducting competitive analysis, or coaching PMs on strategic reasoning. ## Rubric — five strategic capabilities 1. **Articulates strategy on why and how an opportunity should be pursued.** A good strategy is "coherent action backed up by an argument" (Rumelt). It has a kernel: diagnosis, guiding policy, coherent actions. 2. **Considers roles of competitors, partners, and regulators.** Map the value chain. Understand Porter's Five Forces. Use Wardley Mapping to visualize the competitive landscape. 3. **Identifies related technologies, trends, and standards.** Navigate the idea maze. Identify moats (see Hamilton Helmer's 7 Powers). Accept Amara's Law: we overestimate short-term and underestimate long-term effects of technology. 4. **Sets and drives long-term business strategy across product and service elements.** Align the organization through quarterly strategy reviews and clear planning processes. 5. **Connects short-term and long-term product strategy.** Manage short-term objectives based on long-term plans: size your market, know where you are, find a hypothetical path to meet demand. ## Key insight Most execution problems are really: (1) strategy problems, (2) interpersonal problems, or (3) culture problems — the difference between stated values and accepted behavior. (Shreyas Doshi) ## Anti-patterns - McKinsey's Three Horizons model hides more than it reveals. Disruptions can rapidly repurpose existing H1 technologies into new business models — speed of deployment is disruptive by itself. (Steve Blank) - Avoid "5 disqualifiers of strategy": too vague, no tradeoffs, not falsifiable, no diagnosis, no coherent action plan. ## Actions - When reviewing a strategy doc, check for Rumelt's kernel: diagnosis, guiding policy, coherent actions. If any are missing, flag it. - Always ask: what is the product's lifecycle stage? Strategy advice for Explore is fundamentally different from Extract. - Surface competitive dynamics early — don't treat strategy as an internal exercise.