Product management and products often exist for business reasons. The below quote captures this point and is something I want to share for anyone curious to learn more. Roman Pichler is a product manager coach.
A product is a means to an end. By benefiting its customers and users, it should create value for your company. It is therefore important that your product strategy supports the overall business strategy. A business strategy describes how your company wants to achieve its overall objectives. It determines, for instance, which new innovation initiatives your company invests in, which markets you target, which role organic growth and acquisitions play, and how your company sets itself apart from the competition. Take Apple and Samsung, two companies that have employed different business strategies in the same marketplace. At the time of writing, Apple releases a few high-end and highly priced products while Samsung focuses on capturing market share with a wide range of offerings. Some companies refer to their business strategy as the company mission. When I worked at Intel in the late 1990s, the company mission was to “be the preeminent building block supplier to the worldwide Internet economy.”3 To ensure that your product helps the company move in the right direction and that your strategy receives the necessary support from management and stakeholders, the business strategy has to direct the product strategy, as Figure 5 shows. Similarly, your overall company vision should influence the vision of your product.
To put it a different way, the product vision should be in line with the overall company vision, and the product strategy should help implement the business strategy. If your business does not have an overall strategy, or if you are unaware of what it is, then delay formulating a product strategy until a business strategy becomes available—unless you work for a start-up, in which case your business and product strategy are likely to be identical.
To put it a different way, the product vision should be in line with the overall company vision, and the product strategy should help implement the business strategy. If your business does not have an overall strategy, or if you are unaware of what it is, then delay formulating a product strategy until a business strategy becomes available—unless you work for a start-up, in which case your business and product strategy are likely to be identical.
