Real Progress: How to Connect the Dots of Product Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery

“I’ve watched countless product teams get stuck in what Tim calls ‘Alibi Progress’—working on unrealistic goals meant to impress leadership rather than create real value for customers. Tim’s Progress Wheel connects strategy, goals, and discovery into a unified theory that actually works. Essential reading for any PM tired of spinning their wheels.”
Ravi Mehta, Product Advisor Previously EIR @ Reforge, CPO @ Tinder, Product @ Facebook, TripAdvisor, Xbox.

Product teams everywhere are busy implementing "best practices"—writing perfect OKRs, conducting user interviews, and crafting strategy decks that impress leadership. Yet many still struggle to connect their daily work to business results. They're trapped in "Alibi Progress"—prioritizing correctness over value.

Real Progress happens when strategy, OKRs, and discovery work together as a unified system, not isolated practices. This book shows you how to connect these dots to turn fragmented activities into coherent progress toward what actually matters.

You'll learn how to:

• Spot and stop Alibi Progress to avoid implementing frameworks for the sake of it
• Connect product strategy, OKRs, and discovery through the Progress Wheel
• Create product strategy that enables confident yes/no decisions instead of generic statements that justify everything
• Create OKRs that measure genuine progress on problems worth solving, not just business-as-usual metrics
• Practice discovery that reduces uncertainty about what matters, rather than checking methodology boxes

This book is for Senior Product Managers, Heads of Product, and Directors who have been burned by rigid frameworks and want pragmatic clarity on how the pieces actually fit together. If you need to influence strategic decisions, manage up effectively, or help your team connect daily work to bigger business goals, this book will feel immediately useful.

Real Progress provides adaptable approaches that work in your specific context—not someone else's ideal scenario. Every chapter includes quality checks to help you diagnose your current situation and provides practical next steps to improve, regardless of your starting point.

"A pragmatic way to escape the framework theater that's plaguing so many product teams. This book shows you how to move beyond checking boxes and connect Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery in ways that create real value. This isn't another theoretical guide. It's the practical approach product teams have been waiting for."
Petra Wille, Product Leadership Coach and Author of STRONG product people

“In a PM world with ever more frameworks and approaches, Tim’s book is a breath of fresh air: build a strong and intertwined basis of strategy, OKRs and discovery, but be pragmatic and choose frameworks and tools that work for you to make real progress in your context.”
Thomas Leitermann, Lead Product Manager at Personio

"Tim's book masterfully connects well-known product management frameworks and distills them into a practical, cohesive guide. It’s a hands-on guide that helps product leaders apply proven concepts to real-world challenges. Must read!"
Stephanie Leue, CPO at Ringier Medien Schweiz

About the Author
Tim Herbig is a product management coach, author, and speaker helping companies around the world measure the progress of their evidence-informed decisions. Over the past decade, he has worked as a Product Manager and Head of Product at companies ranging from early-stage startups to enterprise organizations. Today, he helps product teams at companies like StepStone, Chrono24, and Deutsche Telekom turn Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery into better practices that create Real Progress. His weekly newsletter reaches thousands of professionals who want to turn product theory into pragmatic and practical application.