42 Rules of Product Management by Brian Lawley

Author:Brian Lawley [Brian Lawley, Greg Cohen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Super Star Press
Published: 2012-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

R u l e 26

Align Your Product Strategy with the Company Strategy—Then Sell It

Your product needs executive sponsorship to succeed. You gain executive sponsorship by showing how your product strategy supports the company strategy.

Mara Krieps, Founder, Pivotal PM

The intrepid product manager who masters this rule will follow three steps: 1) understanding the company strategy, 2) aligning product strategy with company strategy, and 3) telling the strategy story and gaining executive support.

First, you need to understand the company strategy.

Sometimes your company's strategy is easy to find. Some organizations do an excellent job of communicating the mission and strategy to all employees on a regular basis. Ben and Jerry's comes to mind as a great example of clear communication of company mission and strategy.viii

But in most companies the strategy is a partial or complete mystery. I've worked in many fast-moving organizations where it changed frequently, and/or the executive team didn't communicate it well. (Names withheld to protect the culpable.) In those cases, I've had to engage in some creative sleuthing.

Here are a few tips for gaining clarity on your company's current strategy:

Find the "breadcrumb trails." Hunt down presentations from recent divisional or company meetings, or find recent emails from executive team members; these often include at least a hint about the current company strategy. -

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