The User Is the Strategy
Successful digital products rarely happen by accident.
Behind every product that delivers real value is a clear strategy connecting user needs with business goals. Without that connection, even well-built products can struggle to gain traction.
In this episode of the Sonin //Podcast, Paul Jarrett is joined by Sarah Preston, Head of Product and Design at Sonin, to explore what product strategy really means in practice and why it plays such a critical role in delivering successful digital products.
The conversation looks at how organisations often jump straight to solutions, whether that is launching a new app, adding more features, or exploring the latest technologies like AI.
But as Sarah explains, the starting point should always be the same: what problem are we actually trying to solve?
When product decisions are not grounded in real user needs and clear business objectives, the result is often feature creep, wasted investment, and products that fail to deliver the outcomes businesses expected.
Paul and Sarah discuss how effective product strategy helps organisations avoid these pitfalls by aligning teams around shared goals, validating ideas early, and continuously learning from user feedback.
The episode explores:
- Why product strategy connects user needs with business goals
- The risks of building solutions before defining the problem
- How feature creep quietly undermines product success
- Why discovery and user insight are critical to reducing product risk
Ultimately, the message is simple: the best digital products are not built around technology alone.
They are built around solving the right problems.