How do we validate that our product strategy is the right one?

This is a natural question and I would specify the question a bit to say "how do we validate that our product strategy is the right one for us?"  Might seem like a small delineation, but the truth is, no one strategy is right for every company or product. What works amazingly for one company could yield paltry results for another.  For that reason, I'd say the best starting place to determine whether you're developing a strategy that is right for your situation is To be clear on the first princi ...Read More

No-one can, or should ever be sure that they have a 100% right product strategy. But you can do a lot to de-risk your approach, and your tactics should vary depending on how much time you have to plan. Is your strategy ultimately going to drive the change in behaviour you want? Find the key participants in your strategy -- e.g. the customers -- and talk, talk, talk to them. You'll learn a ton from the first 5-10 conversations, and suddenly you'll start to hear the same themes and be able to pred ...Read More

This question is very similar to the question about knowing that your strategy is successful, but I’m going to look at them through two different lenses. For this question, I’m going to look at it as a strategy for a new product that hasn’t been introduced yet, you have no active users, and you want to figure out if your strategy is the right one before you launch. To validate a strategy in this situation, the approach has to be proactive and thorough. The goal is to ensure that when you deliver ...Read More

First, define "right" by establishing clear goals – is it product-market fit? Is it growing an existing product to a certain milestone? These will help you determine the right form of validation to apply to each stage.  For products that haven't yet achieved market fit, early & rapid customer feedback cycles are the best form of validation I've seen – push your target users to tell you over & over again in surveys & interviews that what you're building is something they must have, id ...Read More

I'm going to borrow shamelessly from Jeff Gothelf in his book, Lean UX: "With your prioritized list of assumptions in hand, you’re ready to move to the next step: testing your assumptions. To do that, transform each assumption statement into a format that is easier to test: a hypothesis statement. Generally, hypothesis statements use the format: We believe [this statement is true]. We will know we’re [right/wrong] when we see the following feedback from the market: [qualitative feedback] and/or ...Read More

I emphasize the importance of continuous validation in your product strategy, a key principle championed by Marty Cagan. He teaches us that the essence of product management lies in the discovery process. So, let's break down how you can ensure your product strategy is on the right track: Engage in Continuous Discovery: Always be in the mode of testing your assumptions. Use rapid prototyping and conduct experiments to validate your ideas with real users. This approach helps confirm that your str ...Read More

Most situations don't have "one right" product strategy. Some market/product situations have several strong/good strategies. In other situations there may be no winning strategies for your company/team. But "how should we validate that our product strategy is good?" Let's look at 3 examples: (1) validating a new strategy you're considering, (2) validating a strategy the team is executing against but without market feedback yet, and (3) validating a strategy for which you can gather real customer ...Read More

The core of product strategy is to answer the question "how you will differentiate"Once you have a differentiated offering (based on internal alignment) then you can validate over a period of time by:Track progress towards your success metrics: revenue growth, retention, customer acquisition..etc Talk and listen to customer. They will tell you if your product is heading in the right directionConduct market analysis to verify that your product addresses a real and sustainable market need, ensurin ...Read More

Validating your product strategy is essential, particularly before investing in new features. There are two techniques I use to ensure my strategy is most effective: Customer validation: Talk directly to potential customers to understand their needs, wants, and pain points. This helps you assess if your product idea aligns with their problems and if they would be willing to pay for your solution. In addition, conduct user testing by developing prototypes and getting real people to interact with ...Read More

Validation is a great signal that your product strategy is headed in the right direction before you start building against it. My favorite methods for validation include: Conducting surveys on the themes of the strategy to see how much people resonate with it Validating the strategy with internal audiences Interviewing existing customers where I will show them the strategy in pieces and ask their thoughts for feedback Going to Kubecon/other industry events and discussing the strategy with people ...Read More