Strategic projects are selected by executives based on pre-established criteria. These criteria must be deployed for product development so that they can be present as attributes in the development process. In an industrial context, this study identifies criteria that are relevant to executives and meet their expectations about convergence with the strategic vision of their organization, and it sheds light on how these criteria are unfolded to achieve the development of products. A literature review produced a theoretical background about the definition of project selection criteria, and interviews were conducted with executives from different companies for practical reference regarding how the selection process actually happens in organizations. Finally, study groups were formed to discuss the means by which the criteria migrate from managers' expectations to actual products in the development process. As a result, a set of guidelines was compiled so that companies can deploy their criteria to select strategic projects in project attributes and operational actions throughout the product development process.