Connect What Matters: How to Turn Strategy into Products That Actually Deliver
Connect What Matters: How to Turn Strategy into Products That Actually Deliver
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Let’s be honest, most data and AI strategies don’t fail because of bad ideas. They fail because the good ideas never make it out of the strategy deck. The vision is there. The ambition is real. But the execution? That’s where things fall apart.
The missing link is what we call “Connect What Matters.” It’s the step where strategy becomes real, where outcomes turn into business capabilities, capabilities turn into products, and products are backed by just enough foundation to ship fast and scale later.
This post breaks down how to do that. No fluff. Just a practical way to move from vision to value quickly, clearly, and repeatedly.
What Does “Connect What Matters” Actually Mean?
It’s about building a bridge between what your business wants to achieve and what your teams can actually deliver. That bridge has four key layers:
- Outcomes: The business results you’re aiming for; like reducing churn, improving margins, or speeding up cycle time.
- Business Capabilities: The decisions and actions that drive those outcomes; like pricing, triage, scheduling, or segmentation.
- Products: The data-driven tools that support those capabilities; like decision helpers, automation engines, or insight panels.
- Foundations: The infrastructure that makes those products reliable, scalable, and secure; like feature stores, semantic layers, and MLOps.
When these layers are connected, your strategy starts to move. When they’re not, you get stuck in endless planning cycles.
Step 1: Define the Product
Start with the use case. Not the tech. Not the platform. The use case.
For each one, write a simple one-pager that answers four questions:
1. Who’s the user?
Be specific. Not “sales,” but “mid-market account execs quoting deals under \$50K.” The more precise you are, the better your product will fit.
2. What capability are you enabling?
This is the decision moment or job-to-be-done. Maybe it’s “set a competitive price that maximizes margin” or “prioritize maintenance tasks to reduce downtime.”
3. What does success look like?
Define it in terms of business impact. Are you trying to increase win rate by 2 points? Cut triage time in half? Improve forecast accuracy by 10%?
4. What’s the “first useful” version?
Don’t try to build the whole thing. What’s the smallest slice that delivers real value? Often, it’s a single decision helper embedded in the workflow.
This one-pager becomes your product charter. It’s the anchor for everything that follows.
Step 2: Architect the Thin Slice
Now that you know what you’re building, design the Minimum Valuable Data Product (MVDP).
This is your first delivery. It’s not a prototype. It’s not a proof of concept. It’s a real product that solves a real problem, just in a focused way.
What does a thin slice look like?
- A price guidance widget in the CRM that flags risky discounts
- A triage alert that helps technicians prioritize maintenance tasks
- A lead scoring panel that nudges reps toward high-conversion prospects
It’s embedded in the user’s workflow. It’s tied to a decision. And it’s designed to move a KPI.
The goal is to ship in 6–10 weeks. Not perfect. Not complete. Just useful.
Step 3: Plan the Foundational Path
Every product needs some foundation. But not all of it needs to be built upfront.
Here’s how to think about it:
What do you need now to ship the thin slice?
- A clean data pipeline
- A basic semantic layer
- Lightweight governance
- A simple model deployment path
What can wait until later?
- A full feature store
- Advanced lineage tracking
- Scalable MLOps or LLMOps
- Cross-domain orchestration
The trick is to build just enough to support the product without overengineering. You’re not building a platform. You’re enabling a product.
Step 4: Create the Right Artifacts
To keep everyone aligned, you need two things:
1. Product Charters
These are your one-pagers from Step 1, but now they include:
- Target KPI
- Adoption goals
- Success metrics
- Stakeholders
They’re living documents. They evolve as the product evolves.
2. A Living Roadmap
This links:
- Business capabilities → Products
- Products → Foundational work
It shows what’s being built, why it matters, and what it depends on. It’s not a Gantt chart. It’s a strategic map.
Together, these artifacts help teams stay focused, sponsors stay informed, and delivery stay on track.
Step 5: Prioritize and Timebox
Now it’s time to decide what to build first.
Pick:
- 1–3 products that are high-impact and feasible
- 6–10 weeks for first delivery
Why timebox?
Because it forces clarity. It creates urgency. And it builds momentum.
You’re not trying to solve everything. You’re trying to prove that your strategy can ship. Once you do that, everything gets easier.
What Happens When You Get This Right
When you connect what matters, your strategy starts to move. Here’s what it looks like:
- Leaders stop asking “When will the platform be done?” and start asking “What’s the next product?”
- Demos show real workflow changes, not just dashboards and models
- Teams speak a shared language around data, decisions, and value
- Shipping weekly becomes normal
- Products start to compound, where each one makes the next faster and better
This is what momentum feels like.
Final Thought: Strategy Is a Loop, Not a Line
Connecting what matters isn’t a one-time step. It’s part of a loop: Outcomes → Capabilities → Products → Foundations
Each product you ship teaches you something. Each foundation you build supports the next wave. Each win makes the next easier.
So don’t just plan. Deliver. Don’t just build. Align. And don’t just hope for impact, design for it.
