Analyzing Product Strategy

One of the key responsibilities of a strong product manager or product leader is to understand your market and industry; which trends are relevant, what the competitive landscape looks like, how business models are evolving, and the broader industry dynamics.  There are several useful blogs that speak to these topics, some general and some specific to an industry.

The reason for this note is that I wanted to share with you one of my favorite sources of product strategy thinking.

Ben Thompson publishes a newsletter called Stratechery (www.stratechery.com) and I have been a reader and fan for several years. He publishes a weekly analysis which is available for free, and if you want an additional level of depth, he offers a daily analysis in a subscription model.

I personally subscribe for two reasons:  First, Ben has the time to follow and analyze most of the tech companies I care about. That saves me a great deal of time as it’s so important in what I do to stay current on trends, and what the key players are doing.

But more important, it’s the way Ben thinks about strategy that I benefit most from. I am certain that his writing and thinking has helped me to be better at strategy.

I have no connection or relationship with Ben other than I’m a fan and subscriber (and to be clear, that’s the case with any of the tools or services I recommend). But I strongly encourage all the product managers and product leaders I work with to read his work.

It will save you time, and make you a better product manager or product leader.