Lean Strategy Canvas
Lean Strategy Canvas
Overview
The Lean Strategy Canvas is the strategic companion to the Lean Product Canvas, helping teams align on vision and goals before diving into execution. It distills the essential components of product strategy into a simple, actionable framework, ensuring that every step of development is grounded in clear objectives and a shared strategic direction.
It was developed by Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden, co-authors of Lean UX, Sense & Respond, and Who Does What By How Much? A Practical Guide to Customer-Centric OKRs.
What It Helps Achieve
Strategic Clarity: Ensures teams understand the “why” behind their work.
Goal Alignment: Helps teams define and align around key business goals.
Obstacle Identification: Encourages proactive problem-solving by addressing challenges early.
Focused Execution: Creates a clear roadmap from strategy to actionable outcomes.
Who Should Use It
Product Leaders: Ideal for product managers, strategy leads, and team facilitators.
Teams Aligning Goals: Perfect for aligning cross-functional teams around a common purpose.
Decision-Makers: Useful for executives and stakeholders, setting the direction for new initiatives.
When to Use It
Pre-Discovery Phases: Start here to define goals and strategy before jumping into solutions.
Strategic Planning Workshops: Facilitates collaborative conversations about direction and priorities.
Goal-Setting Meetings: Ideal for crafting OKRs and aligning team efforts.
How to Use the Lean Strategy Canvas
1. Set the Goal (Box 1)
Define the long-term objective your company, product, or initiative aims to achieve over the next 12–18 months. This could include financial targets, growth milestones, or strategic outcomes.
2. Identify Obstacles (Box 2)
List the major challenges that might hinder achieving the goal, such as competitive threats, organizational inefficiencies, or technological barriers. Prioritize the most critical obstacle to address first.
3. Strategy (Box 3)
An opinionated and coherent approach to addressing an important challenge.
Define where you will play by identifying the target audience, market segment, or geographic focus.
Then articulate how you will win by outlining your unique value proposition or competitive advantage—what differentiates your approach to achieving the goal.
4. Objectives and Key Results (Box 4)
This is your high-level goal for measuring progress towards achieving your strategy. Your strategic statement can serve as the basis for your objective statement.
Set qualitative objectives that outline aspirational outcomes for your target market. Pair these with measurable key results that track behavior changes or metrics indicating progress toward the goal.
Key Features
Focus on Goals: Simplifies complex strategic planning into actionable steps.
Roger Martin’s Strategy Questions: Integrates proven methodology for clarity and precision.
OKR Framework: Aligns objectives and key results with strategic direction.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Encourages input and alignment across all teams.
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