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      Getting Started with Strategy

      Strategic planning is the foundation of effective experience in ProductPlan

      Define Strategic Vision

      Accessing Strategy

      Creating Company-Wide Objectives 

      Cascading Objectives 

      Setting Up Teams

      Creating Your First Roadmap

      Best Practices

      Next Steps

      Begin with Strategy

      Before creating your first roadmap, take time to carefully consider your organizational goals and strategic direction. Take the time to establish your organizational objectives and key results (OKRs) in the Strategy module.


      Define Your Strategic Vision

      No matter if you call them goals, objectives, KPIs or ROCKs, this is where you'll want to start. Identifying your long-term organizational goals is crucial to successful strategic planning. Take the time to understand market needs and opportunities that align with your business objectives. Ensure that your product initiatives directly support your overall business strategy.

      You’ll want to start in the Objectives module (bullseye icon) for both company-wide and team-specific objectives. 

      Accessing the Strategy Module

      1. Navigate to the Strategy module by clicking the bullseye icon in the left navigation menu. 
      2. You'll land on the Objectives dashboard, showing all current objectives and their progress. 

      Creating Company-Wide Objectives

      1. Click the +New Objective button in the top right corner
      2. Enter your objective title
      3. Assign a color to the objective. All company objectives should have the same color while each team should have their own color. This helps to quickly categorize your objectives between the company and each team. 
      4. Add a description that clearly communicates the objective's purpose
      5. Select either Company or Team from the dropdown menu 
      6. If this is a child objective, select the corresponding parent objective for the objective
      7. Enter your Key Results (at least one and no more than five). These are quantitative and measured in either dollar, percent or number. 
      8. Click Save to save your objective. This is found at the top of the page. 

      More Details on Key Results

      1. Within your objective, click +Add Key Result
      2. Enter a specific, measurable result
      3. Set the target metric and current progress

      Cascading Objectives

      ProductPlan allows you to create hierarchical relationships between objectives, ensuring alignment across your organization.

      To cascade an objective:

      1. From any existing objective, click Edit 
      2. Connect a parent objective will be an option. Select the higher-level objective that will help achieve from the dropdown. 
      3. The new objective will automatically show its relationship to the parent

      Setting Up Teams

      Once you've established your high-level objectives, organize your workspace by creating teams.

      Creating Teams

      1. Click on Account (gear icon) in the bottom left navigation
      2. Select the Teams tab
      3. Click +New Team
      4. Enter the team name and select Create
      5. Add team members and set their roles like Team Administrator
      6. Create team-specific standardizations like dropdown fields, legends and text fields 
      7. Invite editors and viewers to the Team

      Team-Specific Objectives

      Each team can create their own objectives that align with company-wide goals:

      1. Switch to your team view using the team selector dropdown
      2. Click +New Objective
      3. Link to relevant parent objectives from the company level
      4. Add team-specific key results

      Creating Your First Roadmap

      With your strategy and teams in place, you're ready to create roadmaps that connect to your objectives. For a more thorough roadmap walkthrough, visit the getting started guide here. 

      Setting Up a Roadmap

      1. Click the Roadmaps icon in the upper left navigation
      2. Select +New Roadmap
      3. You can also choose from an already existing template or duplicate an already existing roadmap
      4. Name your roadmap and set sharing permissions
      5. Add the desired fields to the roadmap. Each roadmap can have up to 10 custom fields and can be selected by the editor. 
      6. You’ll also want to set the primary view and style with timeline or list and sprints, months, quarters. 

      Connecting Roadmap Items to Strategy

      For each bar or container on your roadmap:

      1. Click the item to open its details
      2. Under Objectives, select the desired company and team objectives from the dropdown
      3. Save your changes

      Best Practice: Regularly review your roadmap items to ensure they align with and support your strategic objectives. Create a list view by objectives. You can even do a list view by company objectives and a separate one for team-specific objectives. 

      Tips for Success

      • Start with 3-5 company-level objectives to maintain focus
      • Add 2-4 team-specific objectives
      • Ensure key results are specific and measurable
      • Review and update objective progress at least monthly
      • Use the strategy homepage to monitor overall progress between key results and roadmap objects
      • Regularly communicate updates to stakeholders using sharing features

      Next Steps

      • Learn about our Discovery module to capture ideas and create opportunities
      • Explore different roadmap views and customization options
      • Set up your first launch plan
      • Configure integrations with your existing tools

      Need help? Our support team is available at support@productplan.com or through the in-app chat.