The "Why We Win" Essay: Now Required for Every New Product Leader

Looking back, here's how I wish I had started every Product gig I've ever had.

I wish my onboarding experience had been different at the companies I started as a Product Manager. I mean, sure, open enrollment was necessary. And, yes, the first few weeks of attending meetings and pretending to follow along are a rite of passage. And somehow I was overdue on like eight online training courses on day two. No getting away from these parts.

But I would have been far better off had I been required to deeply research my product. Not in “what” it can do (as most of my career stops have required me to learn) but "why” the product exists. Here’s my idea: Let’s pretend each of us had to write a two-page essay in our first month. The essay would have been called “Why We Win” and its thesis would have captured how our product wins in the market. We’d have no choice but to make friends fast, interviewing various teams to get their understanding of how we compete in the market. It would force healthy discussions with leadership and cross-functional peers. We’d have to pore over sales notes and online reviews to figure out what people love about our offering. Ultimately, we’re going to land on the most critical aspect of Product Management I’m aware of: The differentiators between our product and everyone else.

Now, here’s the catch. Only the first page looks back. The first page talks captures how the market sees us today. The first page talks about why customers repeatedly use the product and ideally share it with friends.

It’s the second page where things get interesting. “Why We Win” turns to “Why We’ll Win”. Now, the paper becomes forward-looking. Perhaps we’re happy with steady growth. In this case, we’ll win because we’ll defend our position and we’ll accentuate what we do better than anyone else. Perhaps we’re laggards in the market. That’s okay. Maybe we’ll lean into our differentiators and put effort toward educating the masses of its importance. Or - we’ll focus on developing around new differentiators and hope to capture more market share through this new path. Or - we don’t know yet why we’ll win, but here are five things we’ll try as a way of getting to that answer. Or - who knows? Page two could go in so many directions. Whatever the case might be, page two is a journey into the future, built on the historical reflections from page one.

The second page now becomes the product roadmap which, as we all know, shouldn’t be a random collection of features but a path toward a larger product vision. The product roadmap should map to a go-to-market roadmap that leverages product develop to capture more value in the market.

I imagine this essay being the guiding line for the new employee, and a helpful playbook for existing employees. Imagine this essay being edited by company to ensure its accuracy. Imagine a team of developers or marketers (many of whom contributed to the essay) reading its contents and fully understanding the direction of the product.

We often get lost in customer requests, JIRA tickets, old powerpoints, competitor press releases. Instead, we should turn our attention to intention. If we take a disciplined approach to why we’ve won in the past and what that means for the future, we have a better chance of aligning the business around a common strategy.

One last catch - the paper isn’t a static artifact. It’s a living document that the team can periodically update as it learns more and the world changes. However, in its first iteration, its a pretty good way to start a new Product gig.