Why Your Product Strategy is Failing
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
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Product strategy often feels like one of those things everyone claims to know but few truly understand. You’ve sat through the workshops, read the books, and watched the frameworks get plastered on slides, but when it comes to actually making it work—things tend to fall apart. And the truth is, you’re not alone. Many of us stumble at the same hurdles, often for similar reasons.
Let’s talk about what might be going wrong and how you can start steering your strategy in the right direction.
Vision Isn’t Strategy
One of the most common mistakes I see is confusing vision with strategy. Vision is what you aspire to achieve; it’s the dream that inspires the team and keeps everyone aligned on the larger purpose. But strategy is the practical, often gritty path to get there. If your strategy feels like it could double as a motivational poster, it’s likely not a strategy.
For example, I once worked with a team that was determined to “empower Pharma companies globally.” Noble, yes, but when I asked them how they planned to do it, their roadmap was a mix of disconnected features targeting wildly different user segments. The vision was clear, but there was no strategy tying it all together. It’s like setting out to climb Everest without deciding on a route—you’re not going to get very far.
Prioritization: Less Is More
Another pitfall is the inability to prioritize. And I get it—everything feels important. But the hard truth is, if everything is a priority, nothing is. I remember a time when we had a laundry list of features on a roadmap, all marked “high priority.” Everyone was stretched thin, and none of the features were executed well enough to move the needle. That’s when I learned that prioritization is as much about saying no as it is about choosing what to do.
The reality is, your resources—time, people, money—are finite. Your strategy should reflect that. Focus on solving one meaningful problem at a time instead of trying to do it all. Trust me, your team will thank you for the clarity, and your users will notice the difference.
Beware of Overpromising
Another silent killer of strategy is the pressure to overpromise. I’ve seen this happen to even the best-intentioned teams. Whether it’s a well-meaning PM trying to keep stakeholders happy or a leadership team trying to appease investors, the temptation to promise the moon is real. The problem is, when you set unrealistic expectations, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment—not just for yourself, but for everyone involved.
A feature launch that doesn’t hit the mark isn’t just a setback; it erodes trust. It’s far better to take a step back, set achievable goals, and deliver them well. Your stakeholders might push back initially, but in the long run, consistent delivery will always win over flashy promises.
Root Your Strategy in Reality
Finally, strategy often stumbles when it’s detached from reality. If you’re building features because “it feels like a good idea” or “our competitor is doing it,” stop. Your users are your best source of truth. Are you listening to them? Are you testing your assumptions? A great strategy is always anchored in real insights, not guesswork.
I’ve seen entire quarters wasted chasing shiny trends without validating whether we solved a real problem. It’s tempting to jump on the AI, blockchain, or metaverse bandwagon, but remember: just because something is innovative doesn’t mean it’s useful. The best products solve problems that users care about—not ones your leadership team thought sounded cool.
The Path to a Stronger Strategy
Building a solid product strategy doesn’t require a PhD in business or a $100,000 MBA. It’s about clarity, focus, and adaptability. Here’s how you can ensure your strategy not only looks good on paper but also works in the real world.
1. Get Crystal Clear on Your North Star
Before anything else, define what success looks like. This isn’t just about your big-picture vision; it’s about measurable outcomes that your team can rally around. Your North Star metric should answer: What’s the one thing we need to achieve to know we’re on the right track?
Let’s say your product is an app for freelancers to manage their expenses efficiently. A meaningful North Star metric could be: “Reduce the time freelancers spend logging and categorizing expenses by 50% within three months of adoption.” , and set up the right metrics tracking to ensure this north star is properly calculated.
2. Ruthlessly Prioritize Your Goals
Once you’ve nailed your North Star, the next step is figuring out how to get there. This is where prioritization comes into play. Use a simple framework like RICE (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) to evaluate ideas objectively. But here’s the real trick: resist the temptation to tackle too many things at once.
A good strategy is about focus. Choose one or two core objectives for a given period—ideally, objectives that are directly tied to your North Star. For instance, if increasing daily active users is the goal, your priority might be reducing friction in the onboarding process rather than launching flashy new features.
3. Validate Your Assumptions
Every strategy starts with assumptions: what your users want, what the market demands, and what your team can deliver. The danger lies in treating these assumptions as facts.
Invest in validation early and often. This doesn’t have to mean weeks of expensive user research. Quick experiments, like A/B tests, surveys, or even MVP launches, can help you gather critical insights. For example, before overhauling your onboarding flow, run a small click test with 10% of your users. Did completion rates improve? If yes, double down. If not, you’ve just saved yourself months of wasted effort.
4. Align Execution with Strategy
A well-defined strategy often fails in the execution phase because teams don’t connect the dots between the plan and the work. Avoid this by ensuring every project, task, and feature ties back to your strategy.
This might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how often teams operate in silos. For instance, engineering might focus on tech debt while design experiments with a new UI. Both are valid priorities but can derail the overall strategy if not aligned. Regular check-ins, clear OKRs, and a single source of truth (like a roadmap or product brief) can keep everyone on the same page.
5. Communicate Early and Often
Even the best strategy can fail if it’s not communicated effectively. Your team and stakeholders should understand not just what the strategy is but why it exists. Why did you prioritize onboarding improvements over feature requests? Why are you focusing on retention over acquisition?
Take the time to tell this story—not just once in a kickoff meeting, but repeatedly throughout the project lifecycle. Use updates, demos, and metrics to reinforce the strategy and show progress. When people see the logic behind your decisions, they’re more likely to buy in and support the execution.
6. Be Ready to Pivot
The best strategies aren’t set in stone—they evolve as new information comes in. Maybe your early assumptions were off, or maybe the market shifted in an unexpected way. Instead of clinging to a failing strategy, embrace flexibility.
Think of your strategy as a living document. Revisit it regularly, and don’t be afraid to make adjustments based on what you’ve learned. For instance, if your North Star metric isn’t improving despite your efforts, it might be time to re-evaluate whether you’re solving the right problem.
Bringing It All Together
A strong product strategy is about more than just having a plan. It’s about making deliberate, informed choices and staying committed to solving real user problems. It’s about being clear on what matters most and having the discipline to focus your team’s efforts.
Most importantly, it’s about staying adaptable. The world doesn’t stand still, and neither should your strategy. When you’re clear about where you’re going and open to adjusting the route along the way, you’re already ahead of the game.
So take a deep breath, roll up your sleeves, and start building the kind of strategy that doesn’t just sound good in meetings but actually delivers results. Because at the end of the day, that’s what being a great PM is all about.
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