The Strategy Deployment Framework (The Missing Middle)
by Melissa Perri • CEO of Produx Labs & Founder of Product Institute at Produx Labs / Harvard Business School
Melissa Perri is a renowned product management expert, consultant, and educator who has trained thousands of PMs and advised dozens of organizations. She is the author of 'Escaping the Build Trap' and currently teaches at Harvard Business School while running the CPO Accelerator program.
🎙️ Episode Context
In this episode, Melissa Perri breaks down the critical differences between feature shipping and true strategy deployment, highlighting the 'missing middle' that disconnects executives from product teams. She details exactly when scaling companies need to hire a Chief Product Officer (CPO) and defines the emerging role of Product Operations (Product Ops). The conversation provides actionable advice on crafting concrete product visions and restructuring teams to move from output-focused to outcome-focused.
Problem It Solves
Solves the disconnect where executives have goals but teams are just building features without context, leading to wasted effort and lack of business impact.
Framework Overview
A hierarchical approach to connecting high-level business goals to daily work. It moves from Vision to Strategic Intents (business challenges), down to Product Initiatives (problems to solve), and finally to Options (solutions/features).
🧠 Framework Structure
Vision: A concrete future state (5-10...
Strategic Intents: High-level busines...
Product Initiatives: Problem-oriented...
Options: The actual solutions/feature...
When to Use
When teams are working hard but metrics aren't moving, or when executives feel product is a 'black box'.
Common Mistakes
Treating strategy as a one-time slide deck instead of a living, written narrative; failing to prioritize trade-offs at the executive level.
Real World Example
Melissa asks teams what they are working on and why. If they can't trace their feature back to a business metric or strategic intent, the framework is broken.
If your executives don't know what you're doing, that's a big problem.
— Melissa Perri