Product Reviews – The Power Behind Structured Decision Making
When I first joined Google in 2013, I came from being the VP of Product at a major media company in NYC. I had overseen a team of 50 people and a product suite that included hundreds of websites, apps, and data products. In other words, I had a pretty big scope.
But at Google, my first assignment was to launch… a checkbox.
That’s it. A single checkbox.
At my previous company, that would have taken less than a week. At Google, it took nine months. Why? Because of the amount of data, testing, alignment, and validation required to ensure the checkbox served users and advertisers. Product Reviews were central to that process.
Six months after launch, that checkbox—granted, attached to the rocket ship that was AdWords—generated more revenue than my entire former company made in a year. That level of success didn’t come from luck or seniority. It came from the structured decision-making framework embedded in Product Reviews.
I love Product Reviews. For those of us who entered the discipline of Product Management, we did so because we love building products. Not just tinkering with code on weekends—but building real products that matter and have impact. That means taking a critical look at the product itself: the market opportunity, the problem it solves, and its inherent flaws.
More importantly, I believe that creating a culture of Product Reviews is the #1 practice Big Tech has mastered—something nearly any company can replicate. Even better? It costs nothing to implement, and AI can now help make Product Reviews even more powerful.
So why, out of everything Big Tech does well, are Product Reviews the most important? Here are three reasons—with examples.
Structured Decision Making
Every product decision at a Big Tech company is made through structured decision making. When billions of dollars are at stake, every angle must be examined and aligned. That’s why even something as seemingly minor as a checkbox can take months to validate. The process isn’t about slowness—it’s about getting it right.
Product Reviews provide the forcing function to gather data, pressure-test assumptions, and align stakeholders. They ensure that decisions aren’t based on intuition alone, but on substance.
Multiple Voices
At many companies, the loudest or highest-paid voice in the room often wins:
Why are we launching this product?
Because Joe said our customers need it.Do you think this is best for customers?
[shrugs, avoids eye contact]
A well-run Product Review brings stakeholders into the same room for an honest conversation grounded in data and user feedback. When done right, it dilutes power imbalances and elevates truth over title. Sure, politics can still creep in (even at Big Tech), but structured reviews dramatically reduce the odds.
A Microcosm for Product Success
A Product Review isn’t just a check-in meeting—it’s a litmus test for product readiness. It should include:
Product mission
North Star metric
KPIs specific to this component
User feedback
Data and test results
Options, presented in a structured way
Go-to-market (GTM) strategy
If you can’t tie these together in a one-hour meeting, your product probably isn’t ready to scale. Product Reviews expose those gaps early and push teams back to the drawing board before a costly launch.
At BTStrat, we’ll soon be publishing a deeper dive into how you can implement effective Product Reviews inside your own company. This will include:
The key components of a great Product Review
Templates to get you started
How to incorporate AI into the process