Here's how you can enhance your strategic planning using decision making frameworks.

SWOT is a framework to understand the Strengths and weakness of a product/service or even for your self assessment, along with also figuring out what are the opportunities for growth and what are the threats. Let's see a quick example and analyze a ride-sharing service like Uber. Strengths: Strong brand recognition, large user base, efficient app technology. Weaknesses: Reliance on independent drivers, potential safety concerns, price fluctuations during peak hours. Opportunities: Expand to new cities and markets, car-pooling, bike taxis, offer additional services like food delivery, create partnerships with public transportation. Threats: Regulatory changes in different regions, competition from other ride-sharing companies.

Example of how we can use SMART would help define and explain the framework better: Let's say a fitness app wants to increase user engagement. A vague goal would be "improve user experience". Here's how to turn it SMART: Specific: Increase daily active users by 10%. Measurable: Track daily active users through app analytics. Achievable: 10% increase is ambitious but attainable. Relevant: Increased user engagement leads to higher retention and potential monetization. Time-Bound: Achieve the 10% increase within the next quarter. Key Takeaways: SMART goals help you set realistic targets, track progress, and make adjustments as needed.

It is one of the best ways to do an RCA for any issues or roadblocks. Let's take the previous example of the fitness app which seeing a constant decline in user signups and here is how we can use 5 whys to uncover some valuable insights to the issue: 1. Why Sign-ups dropped? because fewer people are completing the checkout process. 2. Why People are abandoning carts? because of high shipping costs. 3. Why Shipping costs are high? because we use a single, expensive carrier. 4. Why We only use one carrier? because we haven't negotiated volume discounts with others. 5. Why We haven't negotiated discounts? because we haven't explored alternative carriers.

While "Five Whys" is the name of the technique, it's a guideline, not a strict rule. You might reach the root cause in three questions or need seven. Keep asking "why" until you get to a place where the answer feels fundamental and leads to clear solutions.

PESTLE analysis goes beyond spotting threats and opportunities. Use it to proactively shape the market: 1. Advocate for policies that benefit your product and society. 2. Highlight social/environmental responsibility to win over conscious customers. 3. Anticipate tech trends and adapt your strategy to stay ahead.

Consider the following frameworks as well. 1. Scenario Planning to explore possible futures to adapt to change. 2. Balanced Scorecard to translate vision into measurable goals across key areas. 3. Porter's Five Forces helps you to analyze competition to gain an advantage. 4. Gap Analysis to identify areas for improvement to bridge the gap to your goals. 5. Value Chain Analysis enhances competitiveness by optimizing how activities add value.

In my experience, the RICE framework (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) has been instrumental for product marketing decision-making. It prioritizes initiatives based on their potential customer reach and influence (Reach & Impact), likelihood of success (Confidence), and resource requirements (Effort). This framework's simplicity, focus on both impact and feasibility, and encouragement of a data-driven approach make it valuable. However, it's important to acknowledge the limitations of subjective scoring and potentially missing decision nuances. Combining RICE with other frameworks can provide a more well-rounded perspective.