Product Strategy Session

# Product Strategy Session

End-to-end product strategy session orchestrating positioning, problem framing, customer discovery, and roadmap planning. Move from vague strategic direction to concrete validated strategy with clear positioning, target customers, problem statements, and prioritized roadmap.

Repeatable process — not a one-time workshop. Typically 2-4 weeks with multiple touchpoints.

## What It Includes

1. **Positioning & Market Context** — who, what problem, how differentiated
2. **Problem Discovery & Validation** — frame and validate via research
3. **Solution Exploration** — generate opportunities, prioritize by impact
4. **Roadmap Planning** — sequence epics and releases

## Why This Works

- **Structured discovery** prevents jumping to solutions
- **Stakeholder alignment** creates shared mental model
- **Validated strategy** tests assumptions before resource commit
- **Executable roadmap** connects vision to concrete work

**Anti-patterns:** Not a feature brainstorm. Not waterfall. Not solo PM exercise.

## When to Use

**Use:** New product launch, annual/quarterly planning, repositioning, onboarding new product leaders.
**Don't use:** Strategy already validated, tactical adds, no exec sponsorship.

## The 6 Phases (2-4 weeks)

### Phase 1: Positioning & Market Context (Week 1, Days 1-2)

- `positioning-workshop` (90 min) — PM, leadership, marketing, sales
- `proto-persona` (60 min) — PM, design, customer-facing teams
- `jobs-to-be-done` (60 min) — PM, design

**Decision Point 1:** Enough customer context? If NO → `discovery-interview-prep` + 5-10 interviews (+1 week).

### Phase 2: Problem Framing & Validation (Week 1, Days 3-5)

- `problem-framing-canvas` (120 min) — PM, design, eng lead, CS
- `problem-statement` (30 min) — PM
- `customer-journey-mapping-workshop` (90 min, optional)

**Decision Point 2:** Problem validated? If NO → discovery interviews (+1 week).

### Phase 3: Solution Exploration (Week 2, Days 1-3)

- `opportunity-solution-tree` (90 min) — PM, design, eng lead
- Alternative: `lean-ux-canvas` (hypothesis-driven)
- `epic-hypothesis` (60 min per epic) — PM
- `user-story-mapping-workshop` (120 min, optional)

**Decision Point 3:** Test before committing? If YES → POC experiments (+1-2 weeks).

### Phase 4: Prioritization & Roadmap (Week 2, Days 4-5)

- `prioritization-advisor` (30 min) — choose framework
- Score & prioritize epics (90 min) — PM, eng lead, leadership
- Sequence roadmap (60 min) — PM, eng lead
- `tam-sam-som-calculator` (60 min, optional)

### Phase 5: Stakeholder Alignment (Week 3)

- `press-release` (60 min, optional) — PM, marketing
- Present strategy (60 min) — execs + stakeholders
- Refine based on feedback (1-2 days)

### Phase 6: Execution Planning (Week 4)

- `epic-breakdown-advisor` (90 min) — PM, design, eng
- `user-story` (30 min per story) — PM
- Plan first sprint/release (60 min) — PM, eng

## Time Investment

- **Minimum:** 2 weeks (no extra discovery/experiments)
- **Typical:** 3 weeks (1 round of validation)
- **Maximum:** 4-6 weeks (discovery + experiments)

## Common Pitfalls

1. **Skipping problem validation** → force decision point after Phase 2
2. **Solo PM exercise** → cross-functional in every workshop
3. **No exec sponsorship** → secure upfront, schedule Phase 5 before starting
4. **Running all phases blindly** → use decision points to adapt
5. **Strategy becomes permanent** → time-box; after Phase 6, execute

## References

**Phase 1:** `positioning-workshop`, `proto-persona`, `jobs-to-be-done`
**Phase 2:** `problem-framing-canvas`, `problem-statement`, `customer-journey-mapping-workshop`, `discovery-interview-prep`
**Phase 3:** `opportunity-solution-tree`, `lean-ux-canvas`, `epic-hypothesis`, `user-story-mapping-workshop`
**Phase 4:** `prioritization-advisor`, `tam-sam-som-calculator`
**Phase 5:** `press-release`
**Phase 6:** `epic-breakdown-advisor`, `user-story`

**External:**
- Teresa Torres, *Continuous Discovery Habits* (2021)
- Jeff Gothelf, *Lean UX* (2016)
- Marty Cagan, *Inspired* (2017)