Most stakeholders don’t come asking for “product strategy.” They come asking for a product.
Or more often, they come with a sense of the problem they are trying to solve, or a vague idea of what the end result should be. An app. A website. A platform. Something that does more than what they have today. That’s not a bad place to start. In many ways, it’s the right place to start.
Where expectations often start to diverge is in what it takes to move from that vague idea to something real. Building a digital product has a way of revealing just how many decisions are hiding beneath the surface, and how tightly connected those decisions actually are.
There’s a common misunderstanding that product strategy is the big idea. The vision. The north star that sets everything in motion. And that part does matter; a shared sense of direction is essential. But in practice, that vision is only the beginning. I find that people are often surprised that the strategy is not the idea itself, but the hundreds of small, connected decisions that follow. These are decisions about how the product works, what it prioritizes, what it leaves out, and how tradeoffs get made when constraints show up. Those decisions are not details that come later; they are how the strategy takes shape.
Another common expectation is that product strategy lives in a deck. Once the strategy deck is aligned on and approved, the thinking is done and the work can begin. In reality, that deck is more like a snapshot. It captures a moment of clarity, not the full arc of the work. As soon as teams move into implementation and execution, new information starts to surface. Technical realities appear, user behavior doesn’t always match assumptions, and organizational constraints come into focus.
Good product strategy carries through making. It gets tested as decisions are made and assumptions meet reality. Good strategy also provides a frame: a shared understanding of what the team is trying to achieve and why. That frame becomes especially important when there is no single right answer (which is most of the time). Instead of debating every option endlessly, teams can ask whether a decision moves them closer to the outcome they care about.
Speed is another place where expectations tend to clash. Strategy is sometimes seen as the thing that slows teams down, something to get through so real progress can start. But in practice, strategy is what prevents teams from thrashing later. Alignment early allows people to work more independently and more confidently within their domains. When everyone understands the goal and the constraints, fewer decisions need to be revisited. Movement has direction.
Finally, there’s a misconception about control. From the outside, it can look like the product strategist is the person making all the decisions. The reality is much quieter than that. The work is less about deciding and more about facilitating. Framing problems so they can be discussed productively. Bringing the right people into the conversation at the right time. Respecting different areas of expertise and using them to inform better outcomes. Asking harder questions when answers come too easily. Good product strategy is collaborative and grounded. It balances ambition with what is possible. It helps teams commit without pretending the path will be simple.
At Upstatement, this is the work we do every day. We help teams move from vague ideas to clear direction, and from clear direction to real products. Not by handing over a deck and walking away, but by guiding teams through the decisions that actually shape what gets built. When product strategy is working, it often feels invisible. Things move with less friction. Decisions feel connected. Teams stay aligned even as conditions change. When it’s missing, everything feels harder than it should.
Product strategy isn’t a deliverable. It’s a discipline. And it’s what turns an idea into a product that actually works.
