3. Using OKRs and Value Proposition

To effectively communicate product strategy to various audiences, it’s essential to choose frameworks and tools that resonate with both senior stakeholders and operational teams. By aligning on key objectives, priorities, and value propositions, you ensure that everyone from investors to teams on the ground understands and supports the product vision.

Balancing Waterfall and Agile Mindsets

Understanding that different stakeholders have varying expectations and work rhythms is key. Senior management and investors often favor a Waterfall mindset, focusing on long-term milestones and sequential steps. Conversely, product teams typically operate within an Agile framework, iterating and adapting as they go.

The role of a product leader is to bridge these two mindsets. This doesn’t mean choosing one over the other but tailoring the communication to meet each group’s needs. By using frameworks such as OKRs for strategic alignment and Value Proposition statements for clarity on user value, product leaders can create a consistent message that resonates across the organization.

Key Frameworks for Effective Strategy Communication

1. Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

OKRs are a widely used framework for setting and tracking goals across an organization. OKRs consist of high-level Objectives and measurable Key Results. Here’s how to effectively use OKRs to align both senior management and product teams:

• Objectives: Keep them clear and direct at all levels (e.g., company, department, and team) so that everyone understands the strategic direction and priorities. The objective should clearly indicate the priority area, making it easy for stakeholders and teams to align.

• Key Results: Focus on top priorities, representing about 80% of the team’s efforts. Avoid spreading key results across too many activities; the fewer, the better, as this helps concentrate efforts on impactful outcomes. Additional, lower-priority activities can be managed separately through control metrics rather than as primary key results.

• Trade-Offs: Use OKRs as a tool for discussing trade-offs, which are often required when priorities conflict (e.g., focusing on user retention vs. maximizing revenue per user). When discussing trade-offs, consider what drives the most value for the organization in alignment with senior management’s priorities.

• Cross-Functional Dependence: Recognize that OKRs often require collaboration across functions (e.g., marketing, sales). Coordinate with these teams to ensure alignment on shared objectives and support mutual goals.

Example: At Memed, a primary OKR could be structured as follows:

• Objective: Increase sales conversion rates.
• Key Results:
  1. Boost overall gross merchandise value (GMV) with collaboration across product, marketing, and sales.
  2. Improve conversion rates for specific products (e.g., Med+ marketplace and direct sales).
  3. Use control metrics (e.g., NPS, contact rate) to monitor and address deviations as necessary without making them central OKRs.

By keeping OKRs concise and clear, everyone understands what’s prioritized and where focus is directed. These OKRs help maintain alignment across senior management and product teams while providing visibility to all.

2. Value Proposition

The Value Proposition framework clarifies what the product offers and why it matters to users. Writing down a value proposition statement ensures clarity across the organization and can help answer fundamental questions, especially for cross-functional teams.

Key Elements of an Effective Value Proposition

1. Identify User Pain Points or Benefits: Clearly state the problems your product solves or the benefits it offers. Addressing a specific pain point usually provides more value than just offering an additional benefit.

2. Highlight Core Product Attributes: List the essential features or attributes that make the product valuable. What are the unique aspects that differentiate it? Focusing on these attributes helps prioritize what matters most to the users and the organization.

3. Maintain Focus: Keep the value proposition focused on what the product is intended to deliver at that specific stage. This clarity ensures that stakeholders and teams understand the immediate goals of the product and are aligned in their approach.

Example: Memed’s value proposition for a medical prescription platform centers on simplifying the patient’s treatment journey. Key attributes include:

• Convenience: A seamless experience for patients to get their prescriptions filled quickly.
• Price Benefits (PBM): Built-in discount programs for medications.
• Competitive Pricing: Access to competitive pricing options, helping patients afford necessary medications.

Communicating these core attributes as part of Memed’s value proposition enabled all teams to understand the primary goals for the product and where to focus their efforts.

Additional Tools for Strategy Communication

1. Go-to-Market Strategy: Outline the path for bringing the product to market, including launch plans, target segments, and key marketing tactics. This framework is crucial for aligning product, marketing, and sales teams.

2. Product Roadmap: Use roadmaps to visualize the product’s planned development and release timeline. This serves as a bridge between high-level strategy and day-to-day operations, allowing both senior stakeholders and teams to stay informed.

3. Metric Trees and Bet Cards: These tools offer more granular views for the day-to-day progress within squads, providing tactical alignment without losing sight of the overall strategy.

By leveraging these frameworks, product leaders can effectively communicate strategy and maintain alignment between diverse stakeholders and agile teams. Using OKRs and value propositions as primary tools while complementing them with tactical frameworks like roadmaps, metric trees, and bet cards ensures a well-rounded approach to strategic communication. This structured approach helps unify everyone around shared goals and product direction, creating a cohesive and empowered organization.