More in Product Strategy — page 9
Developer Evangelism: Building a Movement for Your Tech
Developer evangelism builds a movement for a technology, aiming to make it a standard through network effects. It's used to drive adoption for new platforms, APIs, or frameworks by inspiring developers, not just selling to them.
SDKs: A Strategy to Make Your Platform the Default
An SDK is a strategic tool to drive adoption. By bundling compilers and frameworks, you make it easy for developers to build for your platform or integrate your service, making your ecosystem the path of least resistance.
Open vs. Closed Platforms: Walled Garden or Public Park?
An open platform is a public park, inviting others to build on it; a closed one is a walled garden with total control. This choice defines growth: via a third-party ecosystem (Android) or tight integration (Apple).
API-as-a-Product: Your API Is Your Business
Treat your API as a core product with developers as your customers, not just a technical integration. This mindset is crucial when exposing data to partners or building a developer ecosystem, like Stripe or Twilio do.
DevRel: Building For and With Developers
DevRel is the bridge between a company and the developers using its tools, treating them as partners, not just customers. You see it in API docs, tutorials, and community forums. The footgun is treating it as just marketing, not a feedback loop to improve the.
Two-Sided Markets: Playing Matchmaker for Value
A two-sided market plays matchmaker, connecting two distinct groups like buyers and sellers. It creates value by enabling their interaction, growing stronger as more users from each side join.
Platform Business Model: Connecting, Not Owning
A platform business connects groups (like buyers and sellers) instead of making its own products. It's a marketplace, not a store. This model powers ride-sharing apps and app stores.
Portfolio Balancing: Don't Bet Everything on One Project
Portfolio balancing treats your projects like an investment portfolio, diversifying bets. It's used to allocate engineers between new features, tech debt, and R&D. The footgun is only funding short-term wins, starving long-term health and innovation.
Product Ecosystem Strategy: Competing Through Collaboration
A product ecosystem strategy builds a network of collaborating and competing partners around a core offering, making the whole more valuable than any single part. It's the model behind app stores and smart home devices.
Brand Architecture: Your Company's Brand Family Tree
Brand architecture is a family tree for a company's products, organizing how the main corporate brand relates to its sub-brands. It dictates whether a new product gets the parent's name or a standalone identity, maximizing value across the portfolio.
GE-McKinsey Nine-Box Matrix: Portfolio Strategy Beyond the 2x2
The GE-McKinsey matrix plots business units on a 3x3 grid to guide 'invest, hold, or divest' decisions. It's used to prioritize investments by weighing multiple factors for market attractiveness and business strength, not just market share and growth.
Portfolio Roadmap: The Strategy Across Your Products
A portfolio roadmap is the top-line strategy for a group of related products, ensuring they all pull in the same direction. Use it to align multiple product lines with business objectives.
Product Line Strategy: Selling a Family of Products
A product line strategy sells a family of related products individually, not as a bundle. It's used to capture different market segments, like offering 'good, better, best' software tiers or car trims.
Product Sunsetting: Retiring Products Gracefully
Product sunsetting is the managed process of retiring a product to free up resources. It's used when a product is no longer profitable or strategically relevant. The biggest footgun is a sudden shutdown without a clear migration path, which alienates users.
BCG Growth-Share Matrix: A Map for Your Product Portfolio
The BCG Matrix plots products on a 2x2 grid of market growth vs. market share to decide where to invest. It's used to categorize products as Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks, or Dogs. The footgun is treating it as a static, predictive tool.
Partner Enablement: Getting External Partners to Sell Your Product
Partner enablement removes friction for your external sales channels. It equips resellers and distributors with the training, tools, and content they need to sell your product effectively, especially when they also represent competitors.
Product-Led Growth (PLG): When the Product Sells Itself
Product-Led Growth (PLG) makes the product its own salesperson. Instead of a sales team, the product's features and user experience drive acquisition and expansion.
Demand Generation: Creating Your Sales Pipeline
Demand generation creates the market for your product. It's the marriage of marketing programs and a structured sales process, driving awareness for complex B2B or B2G sales.
Rules of Engagement: API Contracts for Teams
Rules of Engagement (RoE) are an API contract for human teams, defining how they interact to prevent chaos. They clarify who owns a customer conversation or how feature requests are handled.
Customer Success Playbooks: Standardize Your Team's Responses
A Customer Success playbook is a recipe for handling key customer moments. It defines a standard workflow for events like onboarding or a drop in usage, ensuring every CSM follows the same proven process. Without them, customer experience is inconsistent.