Navigating Product in Times of Strategic Flux
“Should we keep going? Pause? Wait for OKRs?” If that sounds familiar, you’re probably working through a strategy shift. Here’s how to lead through the unknown.
There’s a special kind of unease that sets in when new leadership arrives or your company is shifting to a new operating model.
Suddenly, everything feels a little uncertain. Priorities shift. Big initiatives get announced, while others may be paused. Some areas may suddenly seem super-busy, while others see their backlog drying up. Teams start whispering:
“Should we keep going on what we’re doing? Pause? Wait for the new OKRs?”
🧭 Two Common Reactions (and Why Neither Is Perfect)
In this kind of limbo, teams tend to default to one of two camps:
1. “Stay the course until told otherwise”
✅ Pro: Keeps momentum going
❌ Con: You might invest in work that’s deprioritised later
2. “Pause anything that’s not in the Big 3 (or 5) priorities”
✅ Pro: Avoids wasted effort
❌ Con: Teams lose momentum and morale
Neither path is wrong but it’s important to acknowledge that both come with trade-offs. The trick is not to freeze or blindly continue, but to work deliberately in the ambiguity.
🔍 Discovery as Your Temporary Compass
When the future is unclear, lean on the most concrete thing you have: customer problems.
Instead of asking “What should we build?”, ask:
“What do our customers need most, and how might that map to the evolving strategy?”
This kind of grounded discovery work does three things:
✅ Keeps your team doing meaningful work that addresses customer pains
✅ Surfaces insights that can help to inform top-down strategy
✅ Builds a backlog that’s easier to pivot once OKRs are finalised
Discovery becomes your short-term navigation system, even when the long-term destination is still unfolding.
🔁 The Cascade Conundrum: Top-Down vs Bottom-Up
Strategy doesn’t always cascade like a waterfall. More often, it trickles down awkwardly.
This is where, as a product manager, you can act as a bridge between the executive vision and ground truth.
You can:
Translate vague strategic pillars into tangible customer opportunities
Feed insights from ongoing discovery up into the decision-making layer
Flag tensions early if proposed OKRs don’t match the actual user pain you’re seeing
🤔 What If the Final OKRs Don’t Match What You’ve Been Doing?
Let’s say the OKRs finally drop. They’re sharp, bold, energising — and totally unrelated to the work your team’s been doing.
First of all, don’t panic (and I know this may be easier said than done!)
Instead, ask:
Is there a natural pivot from what we’ve built so far to where we’re headed?
Are there insights we’ve uncovered that validate or challenge this direction?
Can we reframe what we’re doing so it ladders up to the new strategy, or should we wind it down?
Remember that misalignment isn’t failure. It’s an opportunity to show product sense and adaptability.
💡 Final Thought: Keep Building, Keep Listening
Strategic change is inevitable. However, team paralysis doesn’t have to be.
The best product teams:
Keep building (intentionally)
Stay curious
Stay close to customers
Actively shape strategy from the middle
Even when the direction might seem uncertain, the teams who stay closest to the problem are often the ones who thrive during ambiguity.
 | A guest post by
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