“Execution is 95%.” - Daniel Ek, founder of Spotify That makes execution 20x more important than product ideas or vision. Yet, it’s far less talked about. These are the elements of great product execution:

1. Being code-ready Many stretched PMs pass on specs to engineering that aren’t code-ready. They miss a corner case, having bug-free design, or key technical understanding. You have to write a great PRD and have worked through user & technical details to be “code ready.”

2. Defining incremental releases Product execution is about translating vision and strategy to releases. Although the product vision is always grand, it’s a mistake to get there in one step. You have to build-ship-learn fast. Driving that cycle is the essence of execution.

3. Building things that match the team’s skills The magic of execution done right is it “fits.” It’s about working through the “little” details. When defining incremental releases, customize to the team. It’s best to reframe work that might throw off the team’s rhythm.

4. Pre-covering measurement Getting into executional details means working with analytics in advance to: • define the target metrics • how to set up the experiment • and whether eng understand the events & telemetry to put in place. Shallow PMs tend to miss one of these.

5. Volunteering to unblock the engineering team When building product in modern companies, numerous questions and dependencies arise. Great product execution is about recognizing & then volunteering to unblock these issues. It’s about being in the trenches of building.

6. Increasing the well-being of designers & engineers Great product execution is about thinking far enough ahead to minimize crunch. The worst mistake is burning out the team. The best, like Daniel, go further and motivate the team to see possibility when roadblocks arise.

7. Involving legal & compliance at the right times Sloppy execution treats compliance & legal as afterthoughts. Great execution builds in enough time for them to feedback & review designs. Poor execution experiences delays because this is missed.

8. Building the necessary cross-functional support Products almost always have implications for other teams: sales, marketing, support, other product teams. Execution is about making sure all those impacted teams are okay - ideally, happy - with the feature.

9. Keeping a close eye on the metrics Great execution means owning the outcome. You become the one people go to explain your team’s metrics. You should know the drivers of the big changes first.

10. Juggling all of these balls in the air at once Great execution is all about great prioritization. You have to do these 10 tasks and more. The key is to understand what can fall under the table, can be “just okay,” and must be done really well.

As Daniel says, “If you keep executing, the right person will figure out how to sell umbrellas in the Sahara.”