The 6 most important concepts any PM must know

Simplifying Mission, Vision, Strategy, Roadmap, Execution and Measurement

There are 6 concepts every product manager needs to know by heart, so that their decisions make sense: 1) Mission, 2) Vision, 3) Strategy, 4) Roadmap, 5) Execution, 6) Measurement. Here’s how they all tie up in the product context 👇

[1] Mission: your product’s purpose. The reason it exists. What gets everyone dedicating their scarcest asset, time, to build something. Your mission is the answer to the “Why build this?”

[2] Vision: the story you tell. How you see the future becoming if you succeed in your strategy. The world after you fulfill your mission. Your vision is the answer to “Where are we going?”.

[3] Strategy: how you make decisions. The framework that guides which opportunities you choose. Strategy is about optimizing for decisions that accelerate getting to your vision and fulfilling your mission.

[4] Roadmap: your current best plan to execute your strategy. It’s the combination of solutions that match the opportunities you decided to chase. Your roadmap should let everyone know what to expect, and when, as well as what not to expect, and why.

[5] Execution: the power of delivering your plan. Execution helps answer the questions “what is slowing me down? What is helping me go faster?”. Execution accelerates your learning rate, so you can double down or course-correct.

[6] Measurement: how you know if you are right. The way to quantify if your solutions were the best ones to deliver on opportunities, if you picked the best opportunities to get to your vision, and if your vision is valuable.

Each step is tied together. Making good product decisions requires you to deeply understand each concept. Great PMs invest in making them clear for everyone.