In an era where product ecosystems are becoming more complex and interconnected, Product Managers are increasingly finding themselves managing not just a single product but a portfolio of interconnected offerings.
This shift demands a new kind of strategic thinking, one that balances local wins with ecosystem coherence, and short-term gains with long-term platform resilience.
This level of strategic leadership requires thinking beyond isolated success metrics and looking at how products contribute to a broader system.
It demands that product leaders stop operating as owners of independent verticals and start behaving as architects of interconnected experiences.
Kunmilade Adedokun, a respected product manager with deep experience across complex product suites, has worked within such systems and understands the stakes involved in navigating this terrain.
One critical shift is moving from isolated prioritization to portfolio-level decision making. In a multi product environment, the question is not just, “What are we building?” It is also, “What must we not build?”
Ruthless prioritization becomes necessary, not just within individual product lines but across the entire suite.
This requires structured evaluation models that compare product opportunities against unified business goals. Mapping initiatives to outcomes such as revenue increase, operational efficiency, and market expansion provides a clearer view of where to focus resources. It also highlights opportunity costs and enables more informed trade-offs.
Dependencies are another invisible cost in multi-product organizations. A minor change in one product can cause ripple effects across shared data pipelines, APIs, and internal tools. Addressing this requires platform thinking, a mindset that treats shared infrastructure as a strategic asset.
Dependency management is not just a technical function. It is a strategic enabler. Establishing routines for identifying, documenting, and resolving dependencies ensures that teams do not operate in silos. A shared component map, outlining who owns what and how systems interact, allows product managers to plan with a full view of downstream impact.
Balancing reuse with differentiation is a constant challenge. Shared services like billing, authentication, and compliance tools are essential for speed and consistency, but overstandardization can stifle innovation. Scalable product strategy means knowing which parts to unify and which to customize.
For example, a transaction engine may power multiple products, but each use case, whether for treasury, remittance, or lending, might demand different user flows or regulatory rules. System level thinking ensures teams can tailor user experiences without duplicating backend systems, preserving both agility and coherence.
Cross team alignment is another non-negotiable. Without a forum to surface tradeoffs, misalignments go unchecked. A monthly product council, where cross-functional leads gather to share roadmaps, flag overlaps, and revalidate priorities, becomes essential. This is not about gatekeeping. It is about early intervention and peer level transparency.
Decisions made in such forums must be well documented and connected to measurable outcomes. Tracking metrics linked to these decisions reinforces accountability and ensures that strategic alignment does not remain abstract.
Perhaps the most defining trait of a strong multi-product strategy is the presence of North Star metrics. These are the few critical indicators that transcend individual product KPIs and unite teams around shared value creation.
In multi-product ecosystems, where each team might optimize for different outcomes, a unifying set of metrics such as net revenue per transaction, payment failure rate, or time-to-fund becomes the compass. Teams still own local KPIs, but the North Stars ensure everyone rows in the same direction.
This form of alignment is not about conformity. It is about cohesion. Product leaders who drive this kind of thinking are not merely running backlogs or managing execution. They are cultivating strategic discipline and promoting operational maturity.
Kunmilade Adedokun’s work illustrates how these principles come alive in practice. While her contributions span multiple domains, her strongest impact lies in helping organizations move from fragmented product delivery to cohesive ecosystem strategy.
By championing platform thinking, introducing alignment rituals, and anchoring product decisions in shared metrics, Kunmilade has played a key role in enabling teams to operate as a connected whole. Her experience reinforces a critical lesson for any product leader working in a complex environment: real progress comes not from pushing isolated wins but from designing systems where those wins compound.
As companies grow and their product landscapes become more interdependent, success will belong to those who can design strategies that balance autonomy with alignment. It will belong to those who understand that great product leadership is not just about vision. It is about orchestration.