Cross-Application Strategy Transfer
Borrow decision lenses from other products to unlock a stuck strategic choice
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 92%
Bavaro recommends improving strategic judgment by cross-applying the framing used in other products. The method starts by abstracting a stuck decision into its underlying tradeoff rather than focusing on surface details. The team then looks for another product that faced the same structure, extracts the question or decision axis that made its options clearer, and applies that lens to the current problem. Crucially, the answer need not transfer: a shopping product and a video product may choose opposite sides because their customers and economics differ. What transfers is the way of seeing the choice. Repeating this practice across product reviews builds a personal library of patterns, similar cases, and diagnostic questions. Over time, that accumulated experience lets a PM recognize familiar structures and test a strategic choice from more than one angle.
Origin
Bavaro cites Coda CEO Shishir Mehrotra's experience at YouTube. A Google Shopping review framed search results as a tradeoff between consistency and comprehensiveness, giving YouTube a useful lens for deciding whether to link to videos hosted elsewhere.
Core principles
- 01A useful strategic question can transfer even when the answer does not
- 02Distant products can share the same underlying tradeoff
- 03Decision framing often unlocks progress before new data does
- 04Broad product exposure builds a library of reusable strategic lenses
How to run it
- 1
Abstract the deadlock
Describe what the team is really trading off beneath the product-specific details. Turn competing proposals into a neutral question that both sides recognize.
Pro tip Use paired values such as consistency versus comprehensiveness to reveal what each option optimizes.
- 2
Find a structural analog
Look across product reviews, industries, or business models for a decision with the same underlying tradeoff. Prefer analogs that are different enough to loosen entrenched assumptions but similar enough to preserve the mechanism.
Pro tip Study how teams frame choices, not only which features successful products shipped.
Watch out A surface resemblance is not enough; verify that the incentives and tradeoff actually match.
- 3
Extract the decision lens
State the reusable question the other team used and why it clarified its options. Remove details specific to the source product.
- 4
Apply, do not copy
Use the transferred question to evaluate your own customers, goals, and constraints. Let your evidence determine which side of the tradeoff is right in this context.
Pro tip Ask what would have to be true for each answer to win in your product.
Watch out Copying the source product's conclusion turns a useful analogy into cargo-cult strategy.
- 5
Add the lens to your library
Record the framing, the contexts where it applies, and the outcome of your decision. Revisit it when a future problem shares the same structure.
Pro tip Include counterexamples so you remember when the lens fails.
In the wild
YouTube debated whether a search for a video unavailable on YouTube should link to an external host such as Hulu. Progress stalled until Shishir Mehrotra heard Google Shopping discuss whether results should always deliver a consistent Google experience or provide comprehensive coverage even when clicks led elsewhere. He transferred that framing to the video decision without assuming YouTube needed the same answer as Shopping.
→ The borrowed tradeoff gave the YouTube team a new, decision-relevant way to discuss a stuck strategic question.
Common mistakes
Copying another product's conclusion
The transferable asset is the question, not the answer. Different customers and incentives can make opposite choices correct under the same decision lens.
Studying only direct competitors
Adjacent and distant products may reveal cleaner versions of the same tradeoff. Limiting the search to competitors narrows the pattern library.
Using analogy without checking structure
A vivid analogy can persuade even when its causal mechanics differ. Validate that the underlying tradeoff, not just the surface story, transfers.
Is it for you?
Best for
Product teams facing an ambiguous choice that resembles decisions made in other products, markets, or business models.
Not ideal for
Decisions driven by unique legal, safety, or technical constraints that make analogies misleading without domain-specific evidence.
From the episode
Jackie Bavaro on getting better at product strategy, what exactly is strategy, PM pitfalls to avoid, advancing your career, getting into management, and much more