Published 8 February 2024

· 9 min read

Navigating the corporate labyrinth: A product manager’s guide to strategic empowerment

In this article, Robert Schiaff, champions the concept of the “product-led strategy”, which can transform the way product managers navigate and influence within large organizations.

This is a guide for product managers in large corporations. Traditionally perceived as the CEOs of their products, product managers in smaller companies often enjoy a breadth of autonomy and influence. However, in a large corporation, they can feel like mere cogs in an giant corporate machine. Our aim here is to champion the concept of the “product-led strategy”, transforming the way product managers navigate and influence within large organizational structures. Using this structure, product managers in large corporations can go from being mere executors of tasks to becoming strategic leaders and innovators, regardless of the company’s size.

Traditional goal setting vs. product-led strategy

Traditionally, goal setting in corporations has been a top-down process. It starts at the highest levels of management and trickles down through the layers of the organization. Each level of the hierarchy translates these goals into more specific objectives, often losing the essence of the original vision. The result? A team that’s executing tasks without a clear understanding of the ‘why’ behind them.

Enter the “product-led strategy” concept. This approach turns the traditional model on its head. Instead of waiting for goals to be handed down, product managers take the initiative to set their own objectives. They set these objectives not in isolation but in alignment with the company’s vision and the market’s needs. It’s a collaborative process where every product managers owns the strategy and execution, leading to a more engaged, motivated, and productive workforce.

The contrast between the traditional and product-led approaches is stark. While the traditional method emphasizes compliance and adherence to predetermined goals, the product-led strategy values innovation, creativity, and strategic thinking from all levels of the organization. This doesn’t mean abandoning structure; rather, it means using structure as a launching pad for creativity and initiative. In the product-led model, corporate goals are not just objectives to be achieved but self-determined challenges to be met with enthusiasm and ingenuity.

Two perspectives onsStrategy

Traditional corporate-led strategy In this traditional view, the company sets the strategy, and the employees execute it. It’s a one-way street where the flow of ideas and direction is top-down, often leading to a disconnect between the employees’ skills and the organization’s strategic objectives.

Product-led strategy In this approach the product manager sets the strategy while the corporation acts as an enabler. In this scenario, product managers, with their teams, take the lead in setting their goals and objectives. The organization then acts as a support system, providing resources, guidance, and feedback. This approach fosters a sense of ownership and accountability, as product teams are not just executing tasks but setting and driving strategy.

Flipping the traditional process on its head

In many large corporations, product managers view processes like annual goals, performance reviews, and quarterly business reviews are often viewed as mere formalities – steps to be completed, boxes to be checked. They’re seen as part of a rigid system that demands compliance, often at the expense of genuine engagement and creativity. This perception turns these potentially powerful tools into mundane tasks that contribute to a culture of bureaucratic routine rather than strategic advancement.

The key to revolutionizing our approach lies in reimagining these tools. What if we could flip the corporate process on its head? What if, instead of viewing annual goals and performance reviews as cumbersome requirements, we saw them as opportunities for empowerment and strategic alignment? By redefining these processes, we can transform them from taskmasters into enablers – tools that support and elevate our strategic initiatives rather than constrain them.

Complexity vs. simplification

At large corporations, there’s often a tug-of-war between complexity and simplicity. Yet, in the realm of product management, we know that adding more gears to the machine isn’t the answer. A product-led strategy thrives on the simplicity, cutting through the clutter to reveal the essence of what truly matters.

We get to this simplicity with “via negativa” – a term borrowed from Latin, meaning “the negative way.” It’s about simplifying to the essential, stripping away the superfluous to focus on what truly matters. It’s like Michelangelo said about creating his statue of David, “I removed everything that wasn’t David.” In the context of strategy, this means shedding unnecessary complexity and bureaucracy to reveal a clear, straightforward path to achieving goals.

Components of a Product-Led Strategy

This new strategy is composed broadly of two critical components, planning and reviews, across three timescales, annual, quarterly, and weekly.

Planning: In product management, planning is vital, shaping strategy across annual, quarterly, and weekly levels to align actions with long-term goals and immediate tasks. This structured approach keeps the team focused and drives the product’s strategic evolution. Note that when we think about planning, we start with the broadest goals and then funnel them down to the narrowest.

1. Goals and OKRs: Start with the fundamental questions: What are our objectives, and how will we measure success? This step involves setting clear, aligned goals and objectives and key results (OKRs) that resonate with both individual aspirations and the broader company vision.
2. Epic prioritization: This phase is about discerning what’s crucial and who it’s crucial for. It’s a balancing act of evaluating each task’s value, based on its impact and effort, and aligning it with your goals and OKRs priorities.
3. Feeding the developers (sprint planning): Here, the focus is on execution – translating the strategic goals into actionable tasks. This involves detailed planning and task breakdowns, ensuring that every piece of work supports the key objectives for the quarter and year.

Reviews: In a product-led strategy, reviews are an often overlooked opportunity to communicate with the organization. By using reviews strategically, you can ensure quick responses to market changes and customer feedback. This ongoing assessment is vital for steering the product effectively. Note that when we think about reviews, we start with the weekly reviews first and then use them to build out the quarterly and annual processes.

1. Weekly check-ins: These are the meetings with your boss or retros with the team to make sure that you’re operationally on track. It’s important not just use them as routine check-ins but to communicate progress on your goals. They offer opportunities to showcase achievements, identify areas where targets have been missed, and understand the lessons learned.
2. Quarterly business reviews: These are your “investor meetings.” This is an opportunity to show off the great work that you’ve done as well as highlight risks to your goals. Tying these reviews back to your goals brings this to a whole new level.
3. Annual review: The culmination of the year’s efforts. This is a time for comprehensive review – tying the year’s achievements together, reflecting on successes and learnings, and using these insights to shape the strategy for the upcoming year.

The key to overcoming fragmentation in the traditional process lies in perceiving all these tasks not as separate entities but as interconnected components of a single, unified strategy. This perspective ensures that each element contributes to the broader corporate narrative, maintaining alignment and consistency across all levels of the organization.

By adopting this integrated approach, each process becomes a stepping stone towards achieving the larger strategic goals. This transformation involves:

1. Ensuring alignment: Making certain that every process, meeting, and review is in line with the overarching strategy.
2. Encouraging collaboration: Facilitating communication and cooperation with stakeholders and partners.
3. Fostering adaptability: Being ready to adjust individual components of the strategy in response to feedback, market changes, or new opportunities. As Jeff Bezos said at Amazon, “Be stubborn on the vision and flexible on the details.”

The overarching objective is to develop a process that’s not only effective in the short term but also sustainable in the long run. This involves creating systems and practices that are flexible, scalable, and capable of evolving with the organization’s needs. The focus is on building a process that’s lightweight and easy to manage, yet robust enough to drive continuous progress and adapt to changing circumstances.

A call to action

This article is more than just a set of guidelines; it’s an invitation to challenge the status quo. It’s a call to action for product managers to embrace the product-led strategy within your teams. Champion the cause of simplification. Set clear goals, prioritize ruthlessly, and let every sprint be a step towards not just incremental improvements, but measurable progress towards your annual goals. Make your reviews not just a check-in but a strategic tool that guides your product’s evolution. And most importantly, take ownership of your product’s destiny.

The challenge is formidable, the journey is complex, but the path is clear. With the principles of a product-led strategy as your guide and the agile spirit as your compass, there’s no corporate labyrinth too intricate to navigate. So, rise to the occasion, product managers and lead your organizations to a better, brighter, and more rewarding future.

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