🪐Product Strategy Function

How to Train for the Product Strategy Function

Read The Agile Handbook

Read the Service Leadership Handbook

Take the Servant Leadership Masterclass

Take the Agile UX Masterclass

Take the Product Requirements Masterclass

Take the Product Operations Masterclass

What is it?

"Product Strategy" is at the heart of the operations of the team. They orchestrate the Agile work, coordinate sprint plans, manage the backlog, and write requirements. They collaborate with the UX research, UX design, and development teams in their work, while also coordinating the work with them.

Product Strategy in Tech Fleet vs. Other Companies

Who "Wears the Hats" at companies between the Product Owner, Product Manager, and Business Analyst commitments? It depends!

Here's a visual breakdown:

1. There could be one person playing product owner + product manager role, and another playing business analyst commitments.

2. There could be one person playing product manager role and another playing business analyst + product owner commitments.

3. There could be three separate people, each playing product manager, product owner, and business analyst commitments.

4. There could be one person playing all commitments.

In Tech Fleet, product strategy functions are a combo of product owner, product manager, and business analyst commitments.

Daily Responsibilities

The Product Strategy Function typically owns a combination of 5 commitments:

1. Product Ownership commitments

2. Product Management commitments

3. Business Analysis commitments

4. Scrum Master commitments

5. UX Research commitments (In collaboration with UX researchers on the team)

What They Own

1. Coaching teammates in Agile

2. Writing requirements

3. Managing roadmaps

4. Managing the backlog

5. Planning sprints with the team

6. Managing sprint plans

7. Running sprint retros

8. Facilitating sprint demos

9. Ensuring standups happen

10. Facilitating working agreements

11. Facilitating team process

Daily Tasks

• Co-leads and apprentices both contribute to work equally.

• Co-leads guide apprentices, and apprentices guide co-leads.

• You guide other team members and/or apprentices while others guide you in areas you want to focus on.

• Explore the product vision with the client and work with the UX team to form objectives each week.

• Manage the project phase roadmap and product roadmap.

• Manage the project backlog and weekly sprint activities on the kanban board.

• Work with the team to define and prioritize weekly tasks and sprint goals throughout the project.

• Help the team cut or add scope, or change direction when necessary.

• Facilitate the team’s planning, retros, standups, and working sessions to ensure meetings are successful.

• Create user stories and acceptance criteria for tasks that are done in the project.

• Be the voice of the customer along with the UX team for the client.

Breakdown of Responsibilities

Here are some RACI charts depicting the daily tasks that a Product Strategy team is responsible for, and how they work with other teams:

RACI for Sprint Operations

RACI for Managing Product

Herding Cats

Product Strategists "herd the cats" to do their work. They don't know all of the answers. They get everyone else together to build an agreement. They produce work, and then collaborate with others, and may consult others before producing.

You might be a Product Strategist if

1. You like defining the "big picture"

2. You like getting into the technical details of how a product should be engineered

3. You feel comfortable working through uncertainty to create clarity

4. You like orchestrating work across teams

5. You like to facilitate discussions

Cross-functional Collaboration

1. With the Client - facilitate requirements discussions; gather insight and feedback about the solutions being delivered

2. With Research - drive the priorities of research based on the product roadmap / plans

3. With the Project Lead - facilitate meetings and discussions; pair up to work together on deliverables

4. With Design - drive the priorities and requirements of design based on the product roadmap / plans

5. With Development - drive the priorities and requirements of development based on the product roadmap / plans

Role Expectations

• Ability to work without direct guidance or micromanagement

• Take ownership of product-related tasks

• Understanding of Agile methods and an ability to coach others in Agile.

• Prior experience with Kanban, Scrum, or another Agile method is helpful but not required.

• Ability to "herd cats" and help the team prioritize the most important tasks each week.

• Ability to create direction out of uncertainty and explore business problems.

• Be the “voice of the customer” and “customer expert” for the group, the person who grows their subject matter expertise in the product industry and user groups involved; socialize and evangelize the voice of the customer to the project group and to the client when the group needs to make decisions.

• Working directly with the other team leads to strategize activities and decisions.

Common Deliverables

1. Product Roadmaps

2. Task flows

3. Project Phase Roadmaps

4. Backlog upkeep

5. Release-level MVP and MMP vision

6. Release-level MVP and MMP scope

7. Product requirements specs

   1. Competitive analysis

   2. Product-market fit

   3. Epics and features

   4. User stories

   5. Acceptance criteria

   6. BDD scenarios

   7. Annotations