Dwight Eisenhower said, “planning is everything, the plan is nothing.” I didn’t know what he meant until recently. We can easily lose sight of the destination and can see only the people coming at us in all directions. We see only obstacles. But simply by looking up, looking ahead, the obstacles seem to become less daunting.
In Product planning is key but it is generally not expected to have a huge grasp of business frameworks that you learn as part of an MBA. However, understanding some frameworks can be very useful, helping suggest a structured approach to a problem. Things you might have missed can be identified in just a few minutes work. A framework at the end of the day is a structured way, to take a big complicated problem and break it down into smaller pieces.
When you were trying to identify new applications for an existing product even or even adding features choosing a framework to approach the problem will typically yield very strong results.Some great frameworks to Google are the customer purchase decision making process, the marketing mix 4PS, SWOT analysis, 5C situation analysis and porters 5 forces. These are all really useful but my personal favorite is the RAIDS diagram.
RAID stands for Risks, Assumptions, Issues, and Dependencies. The acronym can help you to remember to give appropriate attention to each area. In my own personal experience, I know that I have a tendency to give ample attention to risks and risk management but can overlook assumptions, so reminding myself of the RAID acronym daily, so as not to overlook any of these areas comes in very handy.
I’m sure you’re all familiar with Risks, Assumptions, Issues, and Dependencies, but may not have come across the acronym RAID before, which can serve as an aide to give appropriate attention to each area. With your eyes refocused, start planning as you go and start planning ahead. Learn to be flexible. Learn to anticipate; something with which the original plan offers no help.
