Welcome to The Lens, my newsletter on Product Management and related topics. I include some of the content that you may find useful if you are interested in getting into Product Management or just interested in learning more. If you like what you read, please forward it to someone you think may get value. Thank you.
One of my favorite parts of Product Management is prioritization. How a leader or a product manager sets priority tells a lot about the leader’s way of thinking, decision-making process, challenges in the business, and the trade-offs that are in play. When some of those aspects are clearly articulated, prioritization also serves as a communication tool of what the organization truly values. Watch if you are walking the talk.
At the core, a product exists to solve a problem and deliver value for the user. I was watching Funny Girl the other day, and in a scene, the director of a play is totally furious that the lead actress didn’t follow the instructions or the script. He barges into her room after the show and expresses his anger. She asks whether she should stop the act, and he says no. Why? Because the audience was laughing. It doesn’t matter what he thinks, but it delivered results for the audience.
But often in large or complex products and organizations, the problem becomes problems, and value will have to take many dimensions into consideration. And the business has to deliver value under the constraints of time and cost. It’s in these cases, prioritization becomes interesting. The goal of prioritization is to identify the features that deliver the most value with the least effort ( effort is usually cost as time can be mapped to cost). Value/Effort.
A wonderful conflict is that often businesses appear to ignore customer needs. This is where a good product strategy will guide how ‘value’ is determined. You may have read that Steve Jobs paused the iPad to release iPhone first. While there were technical challenges, the key to note is that even Apple couldn’t do it all. Another example often shared is that if iPhone could launch without copy-paste, you can launch your product early. Remember, Product strategy is saying no to all distractions and clearly focusing on what makes sense for the user and the brand. Here is an excellent handy guide to address or check if you are falling into traps.
Gibson, former Product Leader of Netflix, has reasoning on why Netflix won’t build party mode. Yet it can make sense for Amazon to offer the same.
Often, there are other things to consider such as building a runway or taking into account a ‘risk’. Hence some frameworks such as SAFe or Pragmatic Marketing recommend a grid and formula to think through different dimensions such as opportunity cost, strategic value, cost of delay. Few other models such as Kano focus entirely on the user’s experience of using the product. Similarly, Adam Nash’s three feature buckets take into account the metrics movers and customer delights. Take a look at the pros vs cons of 9 prioritization frameworks and explore more frameworks.
At the end of the day, frameworks are as good as inputs. Good leaders take a holistic view and have a perspective to balance the needs of the customer and the business. Most importantly, they are able to articulate it to rally the teams, and thus being able to lead with context and intent.
I leave you with these thoughts. Let me know if you have any feedback or thoughts. And do share with someone who can get the value out of this post. Thank you.