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Product Direction: How to build successful products at scale with Strategy, Roadmaps, and Objectives and Key Results
How do you identify, select and define the right Product Strategy? How do you connect it to execution and align the entire company towards the same goals?
Making great products is hard. Interdisciplinary teams must discover and deliver the rightsolutions to delight customers while creating a sustainable business model. But that is notenough to succeed. Product Leaders must play a critical they must identify the problems and opportunities most crucial to delight customers while creating a sustainable business.
They must also align teams toward them. But how?
How do you come up with the right insights and select the most promising opportunities? How does a successful product strategy look? Who has to define it? How do you focus product teams and the entire organization in the same direction?Product Direction is a practical approach to solve these problems, based on artifacts, tools, and best practices, to define, link, and communicate your product strategy, strategic roadmap, and objectives.
These tools will help ❏ Multiply your results, with increased team alignment and autonomy.❏ Align everyone on the right opportunities, and ignore other distractions.❏ Grow in your strategic skills to grow in your career.
Nacho Bassino has been leading product teams for over ten years in different companies and industries. He also is a speaker, teacher and coach, working with organizations in different countries to help product teams and product leaders improve their practices and skills to achieve greater impact. During the last decade he has created, tested, and consolidated the methods explained in Product Direction with dozens of product teams.
Making great products is hard. Interdisciplinary teams must discover and deliver the rightsolutions to delight customers while creating a sustainable business model. But that is notenough to succeed. Product Leaders must play a critical they must identify the problems and opportunities most crucial to delight customers while creating a sustainable business.
They must also align teams toward them. But how?
How do you come up with the right insights and select the most promising opportunities? How does a successful product strategy look? Who has to define it? How do you focus product teams and the entire organization in the same direction?Product Direction is a practical approach to solve these problems, based on artifacts, tools, and best practices, to define, link, and communicate your product strategy, strategic roadmap, and objectives.
These tools will help ❏ Multiply your results, with increased team alignment and autonomy.❏ Align everyone on the right opportunities, and ignore other distractions.❏ Grow in your strategic skills to grow in your career.
Nacho Bassino has been leading product teams for over ten years in different companies and industries. He also is a speaker, teacher and coach, working with organizations in different countries to help product teams and product leaders improve their practices and skills to achieve greater impact. During the last decade he has created, tested, and consolidated the methods explained in Product Direction with dozens of product teams.
- GenresBusiness
250 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 25, 2021
61 people are currently reading
272 people want to read
About the author
Nacho Bassino
4 books18 followersNacho Bassino has been leading product teams for over ten years in different companies and industries. He also is a speaker, teacher, and coach, working with organizations in different countries to help product teams and product leaders improve their practices and skills to achieve greater impact. During the last decade, he has created, tested, and consolidated the methods explained in Product Direction with dozens of product teams.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 3, 2021
Existem poucos livros sobre gestão de produtos que me fizeram pensar quanto o Product Direction do Nacho Bassino. Não por que o livro é totalmente inédito, mas assim como o Team Topologies, ele me ajudou a colocar assuntos importantes em uma ordem lógica e racional. Eu estou escrevendo um livro sobre desdobramento estratégico de produtos digitais e com certeza o Product Direction já influenciou muito várias partes do livro.
O Product Direction é um livro direto ao ponto. Nada de firula ou teorias muito avançadas, pelo contrário, ele já aborda os problemas e vai direto para as soluções, um passo a passo maravilhosamente prático sobre como planejar e executar a parte estratégica e de planejamento de produtos digitais.
Aborda uma série de ferramentas, frameworks e abordagens que podem ajudar os PMs e líderes de produto a desdobrarem de maneira prática a estratégia de produto, deixando tudo mais visual, prática e fácil de comunicar pra a empresa.
Senti falta de um nível acima do que foi abordado. Mas essa parte é meio nebulosa mesmo empoce se confundir com estratégia de negócio.
Com esse livro, eu formo a tríade essencial de livros para gestores de produto. São três livros definitivos e que da 80% da noção do trabalho de gestão de produtos:
1. Product Direction, Nacho Bassino
2. Outcomes over Outputs, Josh Seiden
3. Team Topologies, Matthew Skelton
Esses três livros são uma dimensão realista, prática e útil para pessoas que chegaram agora na área ou para todos que já estão aqui faz tempo.
Algumas anotações:
- Your product strategy will build the bridge between the vision and your expected outcomes. It is a combination of: a diagnosis of your current situation a selection of problems and opportunities you are focusing on a set of guidelines for execution
- Essa analogia vou usar certamente em palestras e artigos futuros: “If you are flying at an altitude of 10,000 kilometers, you won’t provide any help to the ground team. The only thing you will see from that altitude is a large grey spot representing the city. On the other hand, if you are operating a drone flying at two meters above the ground, you will have the same visibility as the team, looking for direction, going door-by-door, and you could not offer any strategic guidance. And if you are in a small helicopter flying at 500 meters? You may identify different areas of damage, different buildings, and recognize the city’s limits, all of which will enable the team to understand the scale of the problem and where to start.”
- Sobre Devs e outras áreas em discovery: “It would be awesome to include everyone in the process, avoiding the potential loss of valuable insights. But the practical downside is that you risk the whole process getting caught up in eternal discussions.”
- “Good strategy works by focusing energy and resources on one, or a very few, pivotal objectives whose accomplishment will lead to a cascade of favorable outcomes.” Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy Bad Strategy
- A winning mindset is crucial during the selection step. You do not need to become a world leader brand or have the largest share in an entire industry. But you do need to select a strategy that will enable you to dominate a niche market or compete based on a key attribute that customers value highly.
O Product Direction é um livro direto ao ponto. Nada de firula ou teorias muito avançadas, pelo contrário, ele já aborda os problemas e vai direto para as soluções, um passo a passo maravilhosamente prático sobre como planejar e executar a parte estratégica e de planejamento de produtos digitais.
Aborda uma série de ferramentas, frameworks e abordagens que podem ajudar os PMs e líderes de produto a desdobrarem de maneira prática a estratégia de produto, deixando tudo mais visual, prática e fácil de comunicar pra a empresa.
Senti falta de um nível acima do que foi abordado. Mas essa parte é meio nebulosa mesmo empoce se confundir com estratégia de negócio.
Com esse livro, eu formo a tríade essencial de livros para gestores de produto. São três livros definitivos e que da 80% da noção do trabalho de gestão de produtos:
1. Product Direction, Nacho Bassino
2. Outcomes over Outputs, Josh Seiden
3. Team Topologies, Matthew Skelton
Esses três livros são uma dimensão realista, prática e útil para pessoas que chegaram agora na área ou para todos que já estão aqui faz tempo.
Algumas anotações:
- Your product strategy will build the bridge between the vision and your expected outcomes. It is a combination of: a diagnosis of your current situation a selection of problems and opportunities you are focusing on a set of guidelines for execution
- Essa analogia vou usar certamente em palestras e artigos futuros: “If you are flying at an altitude of 10,000 kilometers, you won’t provide any help to the ground team. The only thing you will see from that altitude is a large grey spot representing the city. On the other hand, if you are operating a drone flying at two meters above the ground, you will have the same visibility as the team, looking for direction, going door-by-door, and you could not offer any strategic guidance. And if you are in a small helicopter flying at 500 meters? You may identify different areas of damage, different buildings, and recognize the city’s limits, all of which will enable the team to understand the scale of the problem and where to start.”
- Sobre Devs e outras áreas em discovery: “It would be awesome to include everyone in the process, avoiding the potential loss of valuable insights. But the practical downside is that you risk the whole process getting caught up in eternal discussions.”
- “Good strategy works by focusing energy and resources on one, or a very few, pivotal objectives whose accomplishment will lead to a cascade of favorable outcomes.” Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy Bad Strategy
- A winning mindset is crucial during the selection step. You do not need to become a world leader brand or have the largest share in an entire industry. But you do need to select a strategy that will enable you to dominate a niche market or compete based on a key attribute that customers value highly.
July 19, 2024
Who is this for:
- Those that read “Inspired” and thought it lacked the steps before discovery.
- Those that want a practical understanding of product strategy
Key takeaways:
- Strategy is not a set and forget artifact
- Don’t make this book a waterfall direction cookbook, learn from the details and focus and the underlying principles
Impressions:
I love this book! To me it is a much needed antidote to the bloated high level “principles” approach by Marty Cagan. Bassino shows that providing tools, frameworks, and good examples is a great way to learn and understand a topic, and from there deduct the underlying principles.
I’ve read many of the references mentioned throughout this book and really needed someone to show me how to tie it all together in a way that is actionable. “Product Direction” those exactly that.
Its’ structure and to the point communication make it a very pleasing learning experience. The tools, frameworks, and other references listed also makes it easy to dive deeper where needed.
Some sections could probably benefit from a revision and also some typos on the way but still a five star read.
I would love to read more from Bassino!
- Those that read “Inspired” and thought it lacked the steps before discovery.
- Those that want a practical understanding of product strategy
Key takeaways:
- Strategy is not a set and forget artifact
- Don’t make this book a waterfall direction cookbook, learn from the details and focus and the underlying principles
Impressions:
I love this book! To me it is a much needed antidote to the bloated high level “principles” approach by Marty Cagan. Bassino shows that providing tools, frameworks, and good examples is a great way to learn and understand a topic, and from there deduct the underlying principles.
I’ve read many of the references mentioned throughout this book and really needed someone to show me how to tie it all together in a way that is actionable. “Product Direction” those exactly that.
Its’ structure and to the point communication make it a very pleasing learning experience. The tools, frameworks, and other references listed also makes it easy to dive deeper where needed.
Some sections could probably benefit from a revision and also some typos on the way but still a five star read.
I would love to read more from Bassino!
November 3, 2022
I got my hands on this book because of the stellar scoring. it definitely started with a resounding 5 stars
but soon after the first 50 pages or so, it becomes a dry exercise
the book tries to link strategy, to roadmaps and OKRs
i still don't get how the 3 are connected as specific nomenclature is also used interchangeably sometimes
for example "strategic goals" become "roadmap goals" which are also "objectives" in OKRs, so why the top down structure at all??
anyhow, recommended reading for anyone doing any project management more than product management
just not worth 5 stars as it has been a pain to read
luckily it is just 200 pages long
but soon after the first 50 pages or so, it becomes a dry exercise
the book tries to link strategy, to roadmaps and OKRs
i still don't get how the 3 are connected as specific nomenclature is also used interchangeably sometimes
for example "strategic goals" become "roadmap goals" which are also "objectives" in OKRs, so why the top down structure at all??
anyhow, recommended reading for anyone doing any project management more than product management
just not worth 5 stars as it has been a pain to read
luckily it is just 200 pages long
April 5, 2021
Through the book Nacho guides the reader through a set of tools and thought exercises aimed at help set, define and communicate a product direction. The approach is practical and pragmatic, but at the same time it allows to have a clear picture of the "why" and defined the expected outcomes of each step in the process.
Having read different books on strategy, road mapping and goal-setting frameworks, Product Direction provides a concrete and experience base guidance for all of them, armed with real-life examples and calls to action.
Having read different books on strategy, road mapping and goal-setting frameworks, Product Direction provides a concrete and experience base guidance for all of them, armed with real-life examples and calls to action.
October 25, 2023
This book has some really great advice and strategies for building product strategy and how to act on that strategy. I was able to take a lot of great notes and to start applying some of the concepts to my current work. I struggled to follow some of the examples for SquadStats which made all the sections of the book about that a little confusing for me personally. However, I plan to return to those sections again in the future to see if I can tackle them and get a better understanding.
March 31, 2021
A fantastic book! It has written for product leaders who lead empowered teams building digital products. Very well structured to guide the reader through fascinating product matters such as product direction, product strategy, roadmaps, and OKRs. The author shares with us whole his knowledge and expertise.
December 12, 2021
An excellent reference book for product managers looking to create a product strategy, roadmap and OKRs. Really the state of the art on these topics.
September 15, 2025
This book has lots of great insights and strategies to align roadmaps with the overall strategy and especially with OKR, which helps me a lot to make the targets and goals a bit more visible.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews