Product Strategy Template
Validated by Amin Bashi, VP of Product at Product School
The higher you climb the Product career ladder, the more strategic skills matter. This Product Strategy Template will help you define the why and how of product development, allowing you to make better decisions for your users, team, and company.
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What’s Inside the Product Strategy Template
Product School’s strategy template takes a thorough approach to creating a product strategy document. Ideal for Product Managers at any stage in their career, this Product-Leader-approved guide is an essential tool for any PM looking to develop an airtight product strategy.
The template includes sections dedicated to the five core pillars of a useful product strategy framework:
1. Product Vision
Before you start a journey, you need a destination. The product vision section of the template guides you and your team through an exercise to craft a product vision statement summarizing your product’s target customer, USPs, and intended impact.
2. Insights
Use data to drive actionable insights related to:
Competitors
Market considerations
Opportunities
Customers
3. Challenges
What blockers, restrictions, or regulatory hoops can you foresee? Use the template to think through:
Technical hurdles
Customer pain points
Market risks
Legal requirements
4. Approach
Outline your plan to take advantage of opportunities and mitigate risks covered in the previous sections. Align around clearly stated Dos and Don’ts.
5. Accountability
How will you measure success? Outline the metrics you will track and the key results that will confirm you’re making progress toward your objectives.
How to Use the Template to Build a Product Strategy
Download the template.
Review the example product strategy: The template includes a pre-filled strategy document using a well-known company as an example to demonstrate how to get the most out of the template.
Build your product strategy: Fill in the template with the goals, data, and challenges relevant to your product. By the end of the exercise, you’ll have a complete Product Strategy doc!
Socialize: Share your strategy with key stakeholders and any teams who will collaborate on its execution. Apply feedback and confirm buy-in from all parties involved.
Update the template: Periodically review your strategy document as you build your product. The clear, editable format makes it easy to update as you iterate!
Use it as a source of truth: Keep an accessible copy of the template handy and refer to it frequently to keep stakeholders aligned.
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No matter how brilliant, elegant, or beautiful it is, your product is a means to an end. Whether it’s creating value, increasing market share, accelerating growth, or all of the above, it’s here to serve a purpose.
The product vision, established in the first section of the template, should translate higher-order business goals into clear product-based solutions.
The primary benefit of a product strategy is that it focuses everyone’s attention on the key problems you’re trying to solve. Strategies that are too broad won’t fulfill their intended purpose.
If you try to fix everything, you’ll end up fixing nothing.
Use the product vision statement composed on the first page of the template to encapsulate the essence of the strategy. Anyone who touches the product should know the strategy inside and out. You should be able to ask any stakeholder what the strategy is and get essentially the same answer.
To achieve this, ask for input when building the strategy doc and share it widely once it’s finished. Refer to it often as you work toward the goals it establishes.
In Product Management, it’s not a matter of if the strategy will change, it’s a matter of when. You know you need to pivot if:
Customer needs or priorities have changed
New insights develop as you analyze the results
New competitors emerge
The team isn’t reaching its objectives. Remember, doing the right thing is better than being right. If the strategy isn’t working, find out why. Your ego might come out a little bruised, but it’ll be worth it.
The strategy should let the customer’s voice speak loud and clear. After all, if your customers aren’t interested, the product will flop.
Ask yourself if you’ve done as much user research as you possibly can. Have you solicited feedback, run tests, and developed user personas? Use the product strategy template to make sure you’ve considered every aspect of customer needs.