Articles by Des Traynor
Product Strategy Means Saying NoProduct strategy means focusing on a cohesive vision and saying no to extra features that don't fit. While good ideas may come from customers or colleagues, adding unnecessary features increases complexity and weakens the product definition. Optional features also hide complexity and lead to a messy interface. Instead of constantly adding new work, product managers should pay down technical debt through refactoring and bug fixes. Competitors' features may not be good fits, and speculation about potential new features is no substitute for making hard decisions. Saying no to even popular ideas is important for delivering the best experience to the majority of users.
- Product Strategy Means Saying No
Product strategy means focusing on a cohesive vision and saying no to extra features that don't fit. While good ideas may come from customers or colleagues, adding unnecessary features increases complexity and weakens the product definition. Optional features also hide complexity and lead to a messy interface. Instead of constantly adding new work, product managers should pay down technical debt through refactoring and bug fixes. Competitors' features may not be good fits, and speculation about potential new features is no substitute for making hard decisions. Saying no to even popular ideas is important for delivering the best experience to the majority of users.
- Getting Product Strategy Right
Des' product strategy framework uses 4 criteria to frame your product strategy: Are you 1) tackling a significant problem for a 2) growing market? Can you 3) attach it to an extendable brand and 4) defend it with a long-lasting moat?
- How we ensure alignment between sales and product
Des focuses specifically on how to run a collaborative process for product roadmapping with sales teams.