Knowing where the business is going gives you the context to make impactful short-term decisions. These are recommendations for those in any part of a business but especially for Product Managers. Read these books and articles to  be well equipped for decision making, understanding the business landscape and communicating your vision effectively. Knowing where you are and where you are going is important for any role in an organization. It is often overlooked by those in Product Development, especially by UX Researchers.

As a Product Manager Understanding and actively engaging with business strategy is critical. It helps drive alignment, understanding the market, and informs robust long-term planning. If you do not understand strategy, where are you heading?

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1. Understand business strategy to drive alignment and focus

There are two major benefits to understanding your organization’s business strategy. 

• Product vision and roadmap: Business strategy provides the framework for your product vision and roadmap, ensuring your product contributes to the overall company goals. You can avoid building features that do not align with the broader strategy, saving time and resources.

• Clear priorities: By understanding the strategic priorities, you can prioritize features and initiatives that have the biggest impact on business goals. This avoids feature creep and ensures your team focuses on what truly matters.

Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters by Richard Rumelt 

 This book provides a way to distinguish good strategy from fluff. Identify clear objectives, overcome obstacles, and focus resources where they matter most.

A Primer on Business Strategy From Hamilton Helmer's 7 Powers by Sachin Rekhi 

The article outlines seven strategies that companies can use to build a successful and enduring business. These strategies include scale economies, network effects, counter-positioning, switching costs, branding, cornered resources, and process power. 

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2. Being clear on the consumer and markets for potential product / market fit 

Market trends: Business strategy incorporates analysis of market trends, helping you anticipate future customer needs and opportunities. This allows you to develop products that stay relevant and innovative.

Casey’s Guide to Finding Product/Market Fit by Casey Winters

In this article, Casey discusses the path to Product/Market fit. That includes time to market, focus, launch goals, changes to vision, growth strategy and risks. He uses real-world examples from Doordash, Coda, Square, Clubhouse. 

AI, and Everything Else by Benedict Evans 

This year’s presentation is focussed on artificial intelligence as the new platform shift and possible paradigm shift. We are already seeing some effects now. There are more coming in terms of changing the way people work and far-reaching implications on industries.

Aggregation Theory by Ben Thompson

Aggregation Theory takes examples of Uber, Airbnb, Google to showcase how the internet has revolutionized the way businesses operate. Thanks to the internet, distribution is free and reduces transaction costs to zero. 

The Great Unbundling by Ben Thompson

The article discusses how the internet ‘unbundled’ the value delivered by traditional mediums. A clear example is television and newspapers. For instance, cable television’s value of ads, education, and entertainment has been unbundled into Google Ads, Youtube and Netflix. 

Competitive landscape: The business strategy often involves a deep understanding of the competitive landscape. By being aware of competitor strengths and weaknesses, you can position your product effectively and make informed decisions about differentiation.

Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors by Michael E. Porter

Michael Porter’s books are a classic in business management. Porter's framework for predicting competitor behavior has transformed the way in which companies assess competition. Read this along with Ben Thomposon’s articles about Aggregation Theory and The Great Unbundling. 

3. Better and more confident decision making

How to make viable decisions when there are many options. There are different frameworks you can apply to help you make the best possible decision at the time.

Second order thinking - Second-Order Thinking: What Smart People Use to Outperform 

First order thinking is fast, simple and everyone reaches the same decision. However, second order thinking i.e. thinking ‘then what?’. It allows people to out-think others and see things which others cannot see. 

Inversion - Inversion: The Power of Avoiding Stupidity

Inversion is the concept of thinking about a problem from multiple perspectives. It takes an example of how a company can foster innovation. Using inversion, you can think about the hidden risks that discourage innovation and force us to consider those in our planning. 

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4. Articulating your product strategy for your organization

A well-defined strategy provides a shared understanding of your product's goals, target audience, and value proposition. It would involve many, including developers, marketers, sales, and even leadership. This fosters alignment and ensures everyone is rowing in the same direction.

Business Model Generation 

This explains the most common Business Model patterns, based on concepts from leading business thinkers, and helps you reinterpret them for your own context. This is a must-read for articulating your product strategy and its business opportunity in a clear and concise manner. 

A Lean Alternative to a Business Plan: Documenting Your Product/Market Fit Hypotheses by Sachin Rekhi

The article focuses on documenting the key aspects of product strategy - target audience, problem you’re solving, value proposition, strategic differentiation, competition, customer acquisition , monetisation strategy and KPIs. 

Product Managers who actively engage with and understand business strategy are better equipped to make informed decisions, prioritize effectively, and ultimately build products that contribute to the overall success of the company. Anyone in product development should also read this list and expand their knowledge. Understanding the makings of a strategy will give you the means to assess and make informed decisions based off of it.

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