Executing the Backlog Is Not a Strategy
Most digital product teams get into this familiar, frustrating space. There’s a massive backlog of features and functions, and everyone’s executing against it with discipline. Velocity is high, designs are sharp, engineers are pulling off incredibly complex implementations, and the roadmap is getting cleared at an impressive pace.
On paper, it looks like progress. But the results? They’re flat. Big releases have minor impact. Customers aren’t behaving the way you had hoped. Adoption is low, conversion is lower, and trust is quietly eroding.
And that’s frustrating, not just for you as a leader looking at the big picture, but for everyone on your team. You’re shipping work that took enormous effort and careful coordination, yet it lands with a whisper. No one says it out loud, but there’s a growing sense of ineffectiveness.
Your customers feel it too. They usually don’t say anything, they simply move on. The survey responses don’t tell the full story. They never do. But the signals are there, quietly compounding. At some point, you start to realize this isn’t just a missed estimate or a mistimed feature. It’s something bigger.
This pattern shows up again and again. Teams are racing, to maturity, to market, to earn or justify funding. The pressure from leadership or shareholders is real, and relentless. In response, we turn to the backlog. It feels like the roadmap is the solution, the to-do list the path. We lean on our domain expertise and institutional knowledge. We double down on what we know. After all, these are smart, hardworking people. Everyone here is doing their best.
why aren’t we seeing results?
It’s not a failure of effort or intelligence. What’s missing is coordinated clarity. And it almost always points to the same gap: strategic design direction. Not just a high-level vision or research analysis, but a practical, executable experience strategy. Not just "we want to do XYZ," but "we’re going to achieve XYZ by doing ABC." A clear path that connects intent, execution, and business performance.
It happens everywhere
I’ve led teams of five and programs with over a hundred people. Fintech startups, enterprise platforms, crypto ventures, healthcare systems, it doesn’t matter the size or the industry. The conditions are nearly always the same. Digital product teams are sprinting. Designers are negotiating solutions. Engineers are proud of the code they’re shipping. Everyone’s doing the work, placing the puzzle pieces.
What’s missing is perspective
For teams like this, shipping isn’t the hard part. Doing the work isn’t the problem. What’s hard is taking a step back, thinking strategically, and coordinating customer-centered execution that actually improves your business. And design - real design - isn’t just wireframes, mockups, or component libraries. A mature design practice is strategic. It’s conceptual, innovative, and most of all, honest. It’s unbiased problem-solving rooted in clearly defined customer needs. It connects product decisions to business outcomes through experiences your customers can trust.
If you have the right people in place - product, design, engineering - but, your customer experience still isn’t hitting the mark, this is your sign. You don’t need more hands. You need strategic design leadership.
And I can help.