How do you group product features to solve problems or deliver value?

1 Define your goals and criteria

Before you start grouping features, you need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve with your product and how you will measure its success. What are the main problems or needs that your product addresses? Who are your target users and what are their expectations and preferences? What are the key metrics or indicators that reflect your product's value and impact? How do you align your product goals with your business strategy and vision? Having a well-defined set of goals and criteria will help you prioritize and evaluate your features.

2 Identify and categorize your features

The next step is to identify and list all the potential features that your product could have. You can use various sources of information and feedback, such as user research, market analysis, competitor benchmarking, stakeholder input, or brainstorming sessions. Once you have a comprehensive list of features, you need to categorize them according to some dimensions or attributes. For example, you can group features by user segments, user journeys, user stories, user value, business value, technical complexity, dependencies, risks, or costs. Categorizing features will help you see the similarities and differences among them and how they relate to your goals and criteria.

3 Apply a framework or method to group features

Once you have categorized your features, you can use a framework or method to group them in a logical and meaningful way. A few of the most popular frameworks and methods are MoSCoW, Kano, RICE, and Story Mapping. MoSCoW stands for Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won't have. It helps you sort features by their importance and urgency. Kano helps you group features by how they affect user satisfaction. RICE helps you group features by their reach, impact, confidence, and effort. Lastly, Story Mapping helps you visualize the user experience and the dependencies among features.

4 Review and refine your groups

Once you have applied a framework or method to group your features, it's important to review and refine the groups. To validate and improve them, you can conduct user testing, create prototypes, assign scores or weights to the groups, or involve your team, stakeholders, or users in voting for their preferred or most important groups. All of these techniques can help you gain valuable insights into how your features are being perceived and valued.

5 Communicate and document your groups

The final step is to communicate and document your groups. You need to share your groups with your team, stakeholders, and users and explain the rationale and benefits behind them. You also need to document your groups in a clear and consistent way, using tools such as product roadmaps, product backlogs, product specifications, or user stories. Communicating and documenting your groups will help you align your expectations, manage your scope, and execute your plan.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?