{"id":197,"date":"2018-05-04T13:04:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T02:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/?p=197"},"modified":"2025-12-20T18:36:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T07:36:53","slug":"nail-your-product-strategy-with-the-product-pyramid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prestosketching.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/04\/nail-your-product-strategy-with-the-product-pyramid\/","title":{"rendered":"Nail your product strategy with the Product Pyramid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Features! Story points! Sprints! UIs! It’s all too easy to let the detail of product management drown out the actual product strategy. The Product Pyramid can help.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strategy is a tricky game. The more complicated the product(s), service(s) and business(es), and the more people involved, the trickier things get. Trying to get shared understanding<\/em> about vision, direction, risk, priority, and so on is hard enough, let alone getting shared alignment<\/em>, decision<\/em>, and execution<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But so often I find that it’s all about connecting the various pieces of product management into a cohesive product strategy story<\/strong>. This usually involves visual framing<\/em>, and getting everyone involved using a shared perspective<\/strong> and vocabulary<\/strong> that describes where we want to play and how we want to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lots of product managers, designers and entrepreneurs<\/strong> struggle with strategy, because they jump into details too soon, or find it hard to separate what they know<\/em> from what they believe\/suspect\/assume<\/em>. Japanese master swordsman, author, philosopher and all round legend Miyamoto Musashi<\/a> put it well: “Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things<\/em>“.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the Product Pyramid?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With that in mind, the Product Pyramid<\/strong> is a way for product managers, designers and founders to visually relate the detail of any\u00a0product<\/strong>\u00a0(or service) to the rest of what’s important\u00a0about<\/em>\u00a0that product: the experience it provides, the benefits it gives to customers, and the value it creates for customers and the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a simple pattern that you can draw on a whiteboard in a strategy meeting, and it looks like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How does it work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Product Pyramid is a visual guide to remind you and others how all of the parts of your product are related<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n