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Strategy blocks is the most actionable and straightforward framework for crafting a product and company strategy.

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Chandra Janakiraman's framework is built on the best strategy wisdom, turning complex advice into a step-by-step guide for immediate implementation.

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Lenny's Podcast Cast

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At Headspace in 2016, despite having a product roadmap and success metrics, teams were confused about project priorities due to a lack of clear product strategy.

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I created the first strategy document for Headspace, which led to a complete reimagination of the product, maximizing growth for our guided mindfulness product.

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Lenny's Podcast Cast

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Over the past 10 years, I've applied strategy blocks in various high-stakes contexts at companies like Headspace, Meta, and VRChat, helping to align complex topics with senior leaders.

LP

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05/02/25

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Strategy blocks is particularly beneficial for product leaders and chief product officers seeking a comprehensive strategy architecture that balances action and aspiration.

LP

Lenny's Podcast Cast

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A good strategy articulation includes three components: three to five strategic pillars to focus on, areas to avoid, and clear explanations for these choices.

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The crafting of a two-year strategy focuses on solving current product problems, while a three to ten-year strategy aims for aspirational futures.

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The preparation step for crafting a strategy involves assembling a core strategy working group and conducting a kickoff meeting to clarify roles and expectations.

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Leadership interviews are crucial for gathering insights, as key leaders often have valuable wisdom that can inform the strategy process.

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Competitive and comparables analyses are essential for understanding the market landscape and should include a head-to-head summary of features and strengths.

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The strategy sprint is the core of the strategy process, where the strategy working group selects strategic pillars based on identified problems and opportunities.

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On day two of the strategy sprint, the team generates a list of problems based on previous notes, clustering them into broader themes to identify strategic pillars.

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The design sprint builds on the strategy sprint, taking the established strategic pillars and aims to produce actionable plans for implementation, while illustrative concepts help bring the strategy document to life, providing a clearer picture of how strategic pillars translate into product concepts and directions.

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The strategy working group design lead heads up the design sprint, while others participate, ensuring clear alignment on inputs and outputs throughout the process.

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During the document writing step, the product leader should synthesize user insights, competitive analysis, and strategic pillars into a coherent strategy document.

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To roll out and operationalize the strategy, first review it one-on-one with key gatekeepers to ensure their support, then conduct a group review with all stakeholders for alignment.

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Empower teams to build roadmaps using the strategy document as a key reference, which encourages participation and dialogue during team road shows.

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This approach fosters alignment within the team and leadership, produces better strategic framing due to diverse inputs, and results in a defensible output based on transparent selection criteria.

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The 'big S strategy' process is more aspirational and takes about six months, focusing on long-term vision and mission rather than just immediate problem-solving.

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In the preparation step of the big S strategy, form a working group to analyze long-term trends and conduct interviews with senior leaders to understand their vision for the future.

LP

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Generate distinct futures by clustering ideas into cohesive narratives, which helps uncover assumptions that would make each future viable and widely adopted.

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Prototypes should be created to explore distinct futures, serving as concept cars that inspire and inform the development of future products.

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The convergence step involves testing prototypes with users to refine ideas and identify the winning components that resonate with current user needs.

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The product roadmap combines both immediate and long-term strategies, allowing for parallel execution of small S and big S work.

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Common challenges in strategy work include justifying the time investment, managing stakeholder expectations, and balancing execution with strategy development.

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To address the challenge of justifying strategy work, product leaders should plan ahead, break down steps for stakeholders, and contextualize the time investment against long-term benefits.

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It's important to recognize when execution can begin without waiting for strategy work to be completed, allowing for quick wins while strategy is developed in parallel.

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Effective individuals in strategy work can fluidly navigate between process and content, using both as tools to achieve objectives rather than adhering strictly to one or the other.

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Managing team energy during strategy development is crucial; pacing sprints, incorporating fun activities, and allowing for down cycles can help maintain morale and productivity.

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Ultimately, strategy must produce tangible results; continuous testing and iteration are essential to pivot away from ineffective parts and focus on those that show traction.

The operator’s guide to product strategy

Takeaways