Product Strategy

Yes. PMs execute: ship features, run sprints, manage day-to-day roadmap. Strategists decide what to build: set vision, define market positioning, allocate resources across products. A Senior PM does both (execution + strategy). A Group PM is mostly strategy (3+ products). VP Product/CPO is pure strategy (company direction, M&A, org design). Most companies conflate the titles; clarify in job descriptions whether you own execution or direction.

JTBD is a framework: people don't buy products, they hire products to do a job. Example: people don't buy a drill, they hire it to make a hole. This reframes your thinking from 'features' to 'jobs'. It prevents building cool features nobody wants. Learn it via Clayton Christensen's research or 'Competing Against Luck', then apply it to every feature pitch. Most PMs cite JTBD but don't actually use it; doing it rigorously = competitive advantage.

North Star is the single metric your product optimizes for. Bad: 'DAU' (too vague, doesn't drive behavior). Good: 'weekly active subscribers who completed 1+ project' (specific, leading, tied to revenue). Rules: (1) it should be leading (predicts revenue), (2) all teams can influence it, (3) it's measurable in <1 day, (4) it's 1 metric (not 3), (5) it changes when your strategy changes. Examples: Slack = messages/month, Figma = files edited/month, Stripe = transaction volume. Set it in year 1; revisit every 2-3 years.

OKRs are strategy translated to execution. O = what we want to achieve (qualitative, inspiring). KRs = how we measure it (quantitative, 3-5 per O). Example O: 'Become the default tool for remote teams.' KR: '50% adoption among 100+ person companies' + 'NPS 50+' + 'retention 80% at day 30'. Write them quarterly, revisit monthly. 70% hit rate is healthy (100% = too conservative). Use them to align teams, not to measure people. Peter Drucker called this 'management by objective'; it's not new, but it works.

Vision = 10-year dream (Airbnb's early: 'belong anywhere'). Strategy = how you win in 3-5 years (which markets, which customers, which moats). Roadmap = what ships in 3-12 months (features, milestones). Vision is aspirational; strategy is competitive; roadmap is tactical. Most founders confuse vision with strategy (big dreams ≠ competitive plan). Write all three: vision gets recruits, strategy gets investment, roadmap gets shipping.

RICE (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) is the starter framework, plug numbers in, sort by score. JTBD focuses on customer intent. Value/Effort is a 2x2. None are magic. Use RICE for quarterly planning (big features), Value/Effort for small decisions (polish), JTBD when you're confused about user motivation. Combine them: RICE to sort, JTBD to validate the #1 pick actually solves a job. The framework doesn't matter; rigorously applying one does.