Reactive Product Decisions - Avoiding The #1 Culprit

by John Mansour |04.29.2009

The single biggest reason product decisions are reactive is the absence of a cohesive top-down strategy that articulates where you're going, how you'll get there and why you'll succeed - as a company - with product direction a key component.

In many organizations, a strategy is nothing more than a revenue goal combined with operational plans and a few product deliverables. This approach usually results in a top priority for each functional area but no top priority for the company as a whole. Conflict is imminent when this occurs because the myriad of top priorities aren't aligned to an overall plan, a.k.a. the strategy. Hence, sales, services, marketing, customer support, executives and others can easily justify product decisions from any single perspective.

The lack of an overarching strategy not only drives reactive product decisions, it also forces the entire organization into reactive mode, making it tougher to meet revenue, growth and profitability goals.

Avoid this dilemma by answering three simple questions.
1. Where are we going?
2. How will we get there?
3. Why will we succeed?

Answers to these three questions encompass all the critical elements of a strategy and align every part of the organization to a common purpose.

1. Where are we going?
The answer to this question should articulate the company vision, target market priorities and quantifiable goals for the next 3-5 years that if met, bring the organization closer to realizing its vision.

If your vision includes phrases like global market leader, leading provider or the like - start over. Examples to follow: Disney - to make people happy; Google - to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

2. How will we get there?
A combination of a strategic product/solutions roadmap, key partnerships and alliances along with marketing, sales and service strategy should suffice.

Since everything takes its cue from the product, consider a solutions roadmap for each target market segment and let the solution definitions drive new products and features. The solutions with high relevance across multiple market segments make product development priorities more obvious. Market driven solutions are more fruitful for everyone, including your customers.

3. Why will we succeed?
This is your execution roadmap in the form of a to-do list for each operational area and contains key initiatives necessary to execute the strategy, e.g., replace ABC skill sets with XYZ skill sets to grow market share in named markets, restructure pricing from transaction based to user-based to steal market share from competitor X, increase brand awareness in the 18-29 year-old segment with stronger presence in social media, etc.

If your strategy isn't much more than a revenue goal, everyone's idea for achieving that goal is arguably "the best strategy." To get everyone on the same page, consider a strategy that encompasses the three-dimensions of where, how and why. This approach brings objectivity to the plan and is more conducive to executing in a divide and conquer fashion. This approach also pays huge dividends in terms of productivity and bottom-line results by giving the organization clear goals that support a common purpose and vision.

If your product decisions aren't connected to an overall strategy that aligns company vision with the dynamics of the market, sign up for a Market Assessment & Strategic Planning workshop in the following cities or contact us for a private on-site session. You'll be amazed at how simple it is to grow revenue and market share when the path forward is crystal clear.

No one makes it easier to connect company strategy and product decisions than ZIGZAG Marketing.

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