I have worked with many CEOs who say the trouble with strategizing is that is all that happens.  They want action!

People can procrastinate around the strategy.  In many cases, boards are reluctant to spend money if there are potential questions unanswered. As Donald Rumsfeld said “known unknowns”.

However, as with a lot of situations in business, how do you know what is the right amount of information to make a decision?  You’re never going to know everything at the beginning and, like the rest of the product process, you will continue to iterate the strategy as you have more information and realign.

So why is it important to have a strategy?

A product strategy is essential to product execution and achieving the product’s business goals.

A strategy lays out a plan on how that goal will be achieved. Without a product strategy, product execution is often haphazard. You risk moving from one crisis to the next – or from one deal to the next, as you will be redirected by the different priorities of your internal stakeholders.

If you do not own the strategy, communicate it and get buy-in from all your stakeholders, everyone else will set a strategy in their heads. It will become hard to own the direction of your solution(s). This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be listening to all stakeholders, but you need to own the strategy and direction of your solution.

Remember you are the CEO of your Products!!