Steering through Strategy Spirals

1. Ibrahim Bashir May 2022: Madrid
2. Steering through Strategy Spirals
3. A Mystery for PM Detectives to Solve Steering through Strategy Spirals
4. North Star Metric … for an API data product ...
5. Customers do “stuff”, no end-user visibility Clues
6. Revenue is what leadership team cares about Clues
7. Product Constraints … have to be respected ...
8. Product Constraints … have to be respected ...
9. Revenue generation / preservation is a reasonable business expectation Clues
10. Value Assumptions ... can be trouble without confirmation / conviction ...
11. Research via customers / users / proxies can be decoupled from defining metric Clues
12. North Star Metric ... means choosing one metric to focus on ...
13. Proxy Metric ... allows a product team some level of control ...
14. Business Model requires connecting product usage to revenue impact Clues
15. Product Usage ... wait - what?!? unlimited??? ...
16. Business Model requires connecting product usage to revenue impact Clues
17. Business Model will likely need to change in the long term Clues
18. Product Usage … really doesn’t matter (for this puzzle) ...
19. Product Usage ... really doesn’t matter (for this puzzle) ...
20. Product Constraints ... have to be respected ...
21. Business Health is a lagging indicator (e.g. churn) - and we want a leading signal Clues
22. Giving Up ... is how this ends a lot of times for the PM ...
23. Complicated Metrics ... are not the point, correlated metrics are ...
24. Leadership ... is a mystery that needs multiple keynotes to solve ...
25. Leadership ... is a mystery that needs multiple keynotes to solve ...
26. Leadership Constraints can sometimes be invisible to product teams Clues
27. Revenue Correlation ... can’t just be made up ...
28. Product Constraints ... have to be respected ...
29. Disconnected Metrics ... are product teams trying to do something of value ...
30. Repeating Metrics ... that you copy/paste from elsewhere doesn’t work ...
31. Business Models ... even when sub-optimal, can’t be changed overnight ...
32. Solving Mysteries ... is hard work ...
33. It Works ... but I don’t love it for a product team long-term ...
34. Uptime ... it’s not just an engineering metric ...
35. Solving Mysteries requires patience Clues
36. Uptime ... it’s what the customers in this puzzle are paying for ...
37. Solving Mysteries requires experience Clues
38. Uptime ... because it works, for now ...
39. Solving Mysteries requires persistence Clues
40. ¿ what was that ?
41. Signs of a Strategy Spiral
42. Signs of a Strategy Spiral Metrics over-index on moving the metric
43. Metrics over-index on moving the metric Tactics quarterly shifts - no long-term bets Signs of a Strategy Spiral
44. Signs of a Strategy Spiral Metrics over-index on moving the metric Tactics quarterly shifts - no long-term bets Teams disoriented teams lacking focus
45. Signs of a Strategy Spiral Metrics over-index on moving the metric Tactics quarterly shifts - no long-term bets Teams disoriented teams lacking focus Emotions sticking to ideas without signal
46. Signs of a Strategy Spiral Metrics struggling to map to revenue Tactics not sure if / how to drive usage Teams as confused as the Tweets Emotions trying to apply known playbooks
47. ¿ when did this happen ?
48. Suspects in a Strategy Spiral Framework Focus
49. Suspects in a Strategy Spiral Framework Focus content >> template
50. Suspects in a Strategy Spiral Date Driven
51. Suspects in a Strategy Spiral Date Driven plans >> planning
52. Suspects in a Strategy Spiral Lacking Learning
53. Suspects in a Strategy Spiral Lacking Learning learning >> building
54. Suspects in a Strategy Spiral Constrained Mind
55. Suspects in a Strategy Spiral Constrained Mind success >> survival
56. Suspects in a Strategy Spiral Functional Bias
57. Suspects in a Strategy Spiral Functional Bias product teams >> PMs
58. Suspects in a Strategy Spiral Seniority Sway
59. Suspects in a Strategy Spiral Seniority Sway visibility >> seniority
60. Suspects in a Strategy Spiral Date Driven plans >> planning Lacking Learning learning >> building Constrained Mind success >> survival Functional Bias product teams >> PMs Seniority Sway visibility >> seniority Framework Focus content >> template
61. ¿ where do we go now ?
62. Steering through Strategy Spirals not shared not logical not clear not painless
63. Steering through Strategy Spirals shared logical clear painless
64. Steering through Strategy Spirals
65. Steering through Strategy Spirals written clearly
66. Steering through Strategy Spirals written clearly broadcasted regularly
67. Steering through Strategy Spirals written clearly planned logically broadcasted regularly
68. Steering through Strategy Spirals written clearly planned logically broadcasted regularly executed effortlessly
69. Steering through Strategy Spirals written clearly planned logically broadcasted regularly executed effortlessly Legibility Composability Synchroncity Affordability
70. ¿ how can you apply ?
71. Signs 01 02 Suspects 03 Steering Conclusions
72. • Signs of a Strategy Spiral ◦ Metrics ◦ Tactics ◦ Teams ◦ Emotions Conclusions
73. • Suspects in a Strategy Spiral ◦ Framework Focus ◦ Date Driven ◦ Lacking Learning ◦ Constrained Mind ◦ Functional Bias ◦ Seniority Sway Conclusions
74. • Steering through a Strategy Spiral ◦ Legibility ◦ Synchronicity ◦ Composability ◦ Affordability Conclusions
75. What’s Next? For Me Amplify May 24-26 in Las Vegas (virtual too) ScholarSite 4 session cohort starting July 18 Substack Run the Business newsletter Twitter @ibscribe LinkedIn t.co/ib
76. ¿ … ? What’s Next? For You
77. CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik Thanks! Do you have any questions? addyouremail@freepik.com +91 620 421 838 yourcompany.com Please keep this slide for attribution