Product Strategy
Statement Template
and
Strategies Across
the Product
Lifecycle
What’s Included in this deck
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Definition of Strategy
Why create a strategy statement?
Elements to consider in crafting a strategy
Strategy statement template
Example strategy statement
See the NOTES view in PPT
for additional information
©2006 Pivotal Product Management, LLC.
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Strategy: A guiding theme
for decisions
• How will we get from here, to there?
• Do we say yes or no to this opportunity?
• Is this tactic a higher priority than others?
©2006 Pivotal Product Management, LLC.
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A Sample of Strategic
Business Drivers
• First to market
• Market leader (most market share)
• Best in class - quality (broad market, or
specific segment/industry)
• Lowest cost/best “value”
• Best in class - innovative
Strategy’s ultimate expression is in how we
decide to spend money.
© 2013 Pivotal Product Management, LLC
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Product Strategy Statement
 Establishes a framework for the product
roadmap: how we will get from “A” to “B”
 Explains why the company should invest in the
product
 Gives Product Team a clear sense of what the
product means to the company and to them:
effort and reward
 Expresses key criteria for prioritization
 Makes a great “elevator pitch” to use internally
©2006 Pivotal Product Management, LLC.
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Elements of Product Strategy
Statement for Internal Applications
Primary business objective
Key business strategy for achieving the objective
Key IT application objectives
Key IT application strategy for meeting IT objectives
Target competitors
Positioning
Required resources and functional programs
© 2013 Pivotal Product Management, LLC
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Elements of a Product Strategy
Statement for Commercial Software
Primary objective
Key strategy for achieving the objective
Target segments
Target competitors
Positioning
Marketing mix (4Ps)
Required resources and functional programs
©2006 Pivotal Product Management, LLC.
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Example Strategy Statement
Format
Why this product is being developed
How it fits with company mission &
strengths
Target market and size of opportunity
Why it will be successful
Competitive target and
positioning
How the company will make
money (business model,
pricing strategy)
Marketing and channel
strategies
Delivery approach and decision drivers, for example:
Address key market
segments first
©2006 Pivotal Product Management, LLC.
Solve particular
problems first
Fast iterations vs.
longer and fewer cycles
Target price, margin,
cost
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Strategy Statement Example
Product X is targeted at the estimated 8,500 organizations in the US who have software
development teams of 100 or more. In addition to contributing $4.5MM to top-line
revenues in the next 24 months, Product X is the first in a line of products that will help
us transition to a product-focused company.
Product X is the means by which we and our clients will measure the impact of adopting
Agile methods. No such product currently exists in the market. We will deploy the
product during consulting engagements and clients will want to continue using it to
measure their progress after the engagement ends. Product revenues will be based on
an annual subscription fee based on the size of the development teams being tracked.
We have an opportunity to be first to market, so we will use an MVP strategy
organized around our Agile transformation engagement model. We anticipate
releasing core baselining functionality first, followed by diagnostic capability and then
management and financial reporting. We need to demo at least diagnostic capability
by Agile 2011.
©2006 Pivotal Product Management, LLC.
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Sales
PLC Stages & Strategies for
Internal Applications
Profit
PLC Stage
Introduction
Growth
Maturity
Decline
Time
Phase
Introduction
Growth
Maturity
Decline
Customer
Goal
Validate planned
benefits
Maximize benefit
Minimize TCO
Replace it
Product
Basic/MVP
Build toward
“complete”
Reduce issues, steady
state
Dated, unstable,
un-supported
platforms
Investment
Enough to prove
value
Maximize value
Maximize ROI
Don’t spend any
more!
Prioritization
Highest business
value in least time
Next level business
value
Stability, supportability
Critical bugs only
Launch
Strategy
Pilot: educate,
validate
Full roll-out, fast
adoption, frequent
updates
Update only as needed
to meet customer goal
None!
©2006 Pivotal Product Management, LLC.
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Sales
PLC Stages & Strategies for
Commerical Products
Profit
Introduction
Growth
Customers
Innovators
Early Adopters
Middle Majority
Laggards
Customer
Goal
Competitive
edge via risk
Safety, pain
avoidance
Safety, pain avoidance
and a good price
Don’t want it,
regardless
Marketing
Objective
Awareness/
trial
Market share
Maximize profit
Retire/replace
Product
Basic
Extensions
Full line
Best sellers
Price
Intro/skimming
Penetration
Competitive
Maintain profit
Distribution
Selective
Broaden
Extended
Profitable only
Promotion
Targeted;
educate
Broader;
differentiate
Sustaining; loyalty
Minimize
©2006 Pivotal Product Management, LLC.
Maturity
From Kotler, Marketing Management
Decline
Time
PLC Stage
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For More Strategy Help
•
Pivotal Product Management provides award-winning product management
training, consulting, coaching, and skills assessment. Please contact us if you have
questions about using this tool. Visit our website for more Product Management
best practices, free tools, and templates.
• Pivotal Product Management
www.pivotalpm.com
866-647-5397
©2006 Pivotal Product Management, LLC.
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