How do Great PMs ideate within Scope?
Here’s how you could “Ideate Within Scope” which also is one of the most sought-after skills for a product manager…
Am sure you may have witnessed people going gaga over a casual discussion on the subject of an org. reaching that pinnacle of success that’s put them in pole position. But not too many from that sample space may have the ability to really break it down to the reasons that led to the win. If one can do that well it could be because that person comprehends what strategy is & how that can help move mountains.
A few years back I had written this article called “Is Your Idea Strong Enough” targeting the all-important process of idea refinement, explaining how ideas ought to be taken from strength to strength also pinning on the use of the BUSINESS CASE CANVAS by Alex Osterwalder which I would highly recommend.
The role STRATEGY plays in shaping a product (or any business for that matter) & setting the org. off on that path to success continually, ought to be pretty clear. Given a product org., it is evident how product managers / product leaders would be the ones doing up those strategic bits, when the same could land in the senior leader’s porch as for the non-product orgs.
If you’re looking for a LINK to that post above, you could FIND IT HERE!
It’s a well-known fact & stands proven beyond reasonable doubt. Usually a pathbreaking idea would be able to overturn those not-so-favorable decisions whilst breaking down any constraints if applicable given how the rationale behind most investments in the market remain tilted towards that ROI. That’s pretty obvious isn’t it? A person investing into a business / org. would predominantly have one single motto – which is to make money, look at ways to grow his money / increase that net worth. And based on STATS around us one’d need to bank on a few solid business models / strategies to get there.
“The real trick lies in generating ideas that doubles up as a backbone of a strategy as aligned to those goal(s) which could be owed to a combination of factors right from markets, pain points, effective use of technology to solve problems, delivering a great UX, bundled & offered over a competitive pricing model so that users get hooked & it all stays that way for a really long time”
But, what’s the difference / correlation between an idea & strategy? Are they one & the same?
Although over colloquial usage many tend to use the terms “IDEA” & “STRATEGY” interchangeably there’s still a subtle difference between the two.
Ideas could be thought of as a prolonged extension of deep thoughts that have the power to transform the lives / could add value to someone as fitting into a sample space if pursued as a suggestive course of action towards reaching a goal in due course post formalizing it all, whereas Strategy could be a resultant of analyzing, sorting / cherry-picking, refining that very idea stream, validating them more formally to cover up loopholes (if any) & clear-up the path to execution getting one step closer to that goal.
Think of a dart game or archery for that matter. A player may take many shots at the target but not too many may hit the center of the board – the bulls’ eye.
Just because a couple of them arrows don’t hit, the player may not stop shooting. With every shot the gamer may experience a boost in confidence & get more accurate. Also, another point to consider here is a gamer may not stop shooting if they happen to hit the bull’s eye once. The shots would continue until such time that the gamer doesn’t exhaust their arrows / darts signifying the end of a turn / round, which could be followed by another one in due course.
Extrapolating the same analogy to the real-world, a strategy may not necessarily land one in a winning position every time but the process of mending / fine-tuning ought to continue. And although it could take a breather given how situations could demand a shift in focus over a certain initiative paying off & hitting the ascension point, it may not stop even if one them hits the goal as one may quickly move on to the next goal.
“If the only thing constant in the world is a change, product managers ought to be the drivers of that very change”
So as is evident it is not enough for PMs to be able to generate ideas, they ought to be able to do that well within a given scope & as clearly tied to a goal understanding the underlying metrics, how they would affect it & by what magnitude. If one happens to look downstream from there, it is possible that a goal may carry many definitive steps with each of them comprising of more goals / sub-goals so as to lead them to the ultimate goal. Great PMs possess the clarity to see through all those steps / layers even before they embark on the first step of the journey, which is why they fit the role of lending oversight.
Over my mentoring sessions working with aspirants who want to break into product, I happen to pop a few of those product sense exercises (mostly extemporaneously) specifically tailored to the domains they come from & I have happened to notice a visible pattern.
When many are able to manage something that barely constitutes a strategy towards getting to the goal & just seem to lose the plot when those follow-up questions are popped, there are others who seem to go entirely blank & give up quoting “mental block” as a chief reason. The problem there is how people find it very tough to work when they are asked to cover a nuance / a fresh constraint that’s added to terribly limit their scope. The feeling could be that of a boundary wall being erected against one’s natural flow / thinking.
For ex: Consider this for an PM interview:
- Interviewer: There’s this Fintech analytics App that’s catering to a few markets & generating million-dollar revenues since a couple of years of launch. We want to now foray into a niche space & target investment advisors. How would you do that?
- Candidate: The answer could be “I’d explore the problems that are plaguing this persona for now & then base my decision on the insight I glean from it”.
- Interviewer: And then if it is followed up with, “alright, could you quote a few problems you think could resonate well with this persona given the current timeline & say tailored to a certain <XYZ> geography?”
- Candidate: !! < B L A N K > !!
No, I can’t seem to think of anything at this moment
Does that situation resonate with you?
How would you go about combating that?
Well! Here are a few important headers one could consider:
