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.