A Product Plan Needs Regular Work

Dave Hora learned about product plans while working at PlanGrid. In 2016, he was building a team to study users. The company had customers who strongly wanted its product. But team leaders had different ideas about what mattered most. This made it hard to choose the research team's work.

Some people wanted to focus on requests from particular customers. Others wanted new tools or better ways to collect information. Hora first thought a clear plan would bring these views together. The team could agree on it and then follow it. Later, he found that this was not enough by itself. The situation kept changing as the team continued its work.

He now describes three things that need to stay connected. The first is the situation that the team faces today. The second is the work the team chooses to do. The third is how people understand their choices and goals. A team needs to look at all three together regularly. Learning more can change what people think they should do.

Research helped Hora's team understand problems in a different way. But research alone could not make everyone agree on priorities. Plans also helped different departments discuss what they would do. Those plans could quickly become less useful as things changed. Hora's main point is that planning needs continued work. Teams must keep checking their understanding against their actions and situation.