Step 1 / 5 · 15 min
Anchor strategy to a changed state rather than an initiative portfolio.Name the outcome
- Use a 90-day horizon.
- Choose a user behaviour or business state the product can influence.
- Diagnose why it is not happening now.
Shape · Core skill lab
90-Day Strategic Choice
Turn a list of plausible initiatives into one coherent product bet with a mechanism, sacrifice, and evidence gate.
- Decision
- Which product advantage will we concentrate on for the next 90 days—and what will we stop doing?
- Timebox
- 90 minutes + one decision review
- Output
- 90-day strategy memo
Bring to the bench
- A business or product outcome that matters now
- Evidence from customers, product use, and constraints
- A decision owner who can say no
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Field tools
Use the instrument, not a blank page.
Copy these into your interview, agent, review, or working document. They are specific to this repetition.
template
Strategy kernel
Use this sequence to keep ambition, diagnosis, and action connected.
OUTCOME — changed state in 90 days DIAGNOSIS — mechanism preventing it now + evidence ARENA — segment × workflow × trigger GUIDING CHOICE — how we will create advantage SACRIFICE — what we will not pursue COHERENT ACTIONS — 3–5 reinforcing moves EVIDENCE GATES — commit / adapt / stop + review date
checklist
Choice pressure test
If every option survives, the strategy has not made a choice.
Could a reasonable leader choose a different option? Does the choice deny resources to something attractive? Do the actions reinforce one mechanism? Can a team reject work using this strategy? Is the advantage more specific than “better UX” or “AI”? Can evidence within 90 days overturn the call?
Calibrate judgment
Compare the evidence, not the polish.
A strategy that rejects work
An agency handoff product is under pressure to broaden acquisition and segments.
For 90 days, concentrate on trusted, source-linked agency handoffs. Pause freelancer onboarding and new acquisition integrations. Reinforce the choice with cited extraction quality, source-type UX, five agency partners, and trust instrumentation. Stop if repeat handoff use remains below 20% after the trust gate passes.
Why it works: The diagnosis, arena, advantage, reinforcing actions, sacrifice, and stop condition form one falsifiable system.
A roadmap wearing strategy clothes
Our strategy is to grow engagement by improving onboarding, adding AI, launching integrations, expanding internationally, and investing in enterprise features.
Why it fails: There is no diagnosis, mechanism, priority, sacrifice, or evidence that can reject work.
Review → revise → repeat
The artifact is the beginning of the rep.
Check only standards your current artifact actually meets. Then record one consequential revision before exporting it.