Don’t prioritise product like this!

Product prioritisation advice is full of what to do! But what about what you really shouldn’t be doing??

In this short article, I cover 4 approaches that you should avoid or at least be very mindful of when prioritising your product’s roadmap and making development decisions.

1.Don't prioritise based on what your competitors are doing!?

Your product's development should be based on a deep understanding of your customers’ problems through customer research, customer feedback, combined with your organisation’s innovative ideas, not based on what a competing product is doing or has announced!

Why? Because focusing on the real needs and preferences of your own customers delivers real results - not just duplicating what another company is doing. Making product management decisions based on your competitors is more likely to lead to a poor imitation, and you would just be delivering what the market already has. That’s not to say you shouldn’t try and solve the same customer problems in a better way - that’s great - but don’t do it in the same easy as what others are doing - aim to do it better - lest you fail in achieving great results!??

Relying on what your competitors are doing to guide product management and development decisions and you’ll forever be catching up. Your product won’t stand out and your product will just be yet another me-too!?

2. Don't prioritise based on requests from your sales team!

Your sales team may have feature requests, but relying on their opinion or demands can easily lead you down a path of directionless products and loss of product strategy.?

Typically, sales teams are focused on achieving short-term goals - closing deals and hitting sales goals - so prioritising based on sales requests alone creates long term risk of ending up with a Frankenstein product! You may lose sight of the bigger picture, the long term objective and end up building features that don't align with the product's overall vision and north star.?

A clear vision for the product and a clear strategy should guide the prioritisation process, in addition to considering the sales team's input.

3. Don't prioritise what's easy.?

The goal to deliver as many initiatives as possible - quantity over quality - might seem like a good one. After all, more is better right? So why not prioritise all the easy stuff first. We come back to strategy again - just doing all the easy stuff and leaving all the difficult things for ‘later’ - is a good indication that you’re not focused on your true objectives.?

Focusing solely on quick wins can lead to a lack of focus and direction in the product development process. It is certainly tempting to prioritise initiatives or features that can be completed quickly and easily, but if you’re not balancing this with solving the hard problems you can easily end up with products that lacks a cohesive strategy or showing a vision that is disjointed.

If you prioritise what's easy, you may end up building features or functionality that aren't aligned with the product's or user's long-term needs or goals. A product like this may not provide value to the user in the long run if it is not well-differentiated in the market. And by the time you get round to the ‘hard’ problems, your competition may well have put you in an insurmountable disadvantage.?

The most important and impactful tasks are often neglected by prioritising what is easy. When you prioritise tasks based on their difficulty, take a balanced approach to make sure you’re working on the most important tasks that will contribute most to the product's success too!

Instead of simply focusing on what's easy, it's important to have a clear objective and strategy for the product and to prioritise tasks and features based on customer impact - not because they’re quick to develop.?

4. Don't prioritise based on your gut instinct alone.?

The knowledge that you have gained from industry research, user surveys, customer feedback, and input from the company's sales and support teams will help you drive a successful product launch. You (or the CEO or senior exec) could go too far and believe you no longer need input beyond the gut instinct - after all you KNOW what the customer wants. Be careful there! Do you have the evidence that supports that? Or is it a hunch??

The importance of not prioritising based solely on gut instincts cannot be overstated because relying solely on intuition can result in subjective and potentially biased decisions. The best way to fail in product development is to create what you think is cool! Or what solves YOUR problem - without the insight or validation that, that is what the customer will actually pay for.? In order to ensure that prioritisation decisions are based on objective evidence, gut instincts should be combined with data and analysis.?

It’s so easy to miss important insights and perspectives that can be gained from data and analysis when you rely solely on gut instincts. The result is poor decision-making and a lack of stakeholder buy-in, as well as a lack of alignment with the user's needs and preferences.

Prioritisation approaches that are based on evidence and reasoned analysis will ensure you make informed and strategic decisions aligned with your organisation's and the product's goals and objectives. Your product will have a greater chance of success and will be far more likely to thrive in the market.?

Making prioritisation decisions in product management sometimes calls for gut instincts but it needs to be primarily data-driven and led by strategy.?

Conclusion

Prioritisation is part art, part science - and for every thesis of what might work, there is invariably an antithesis of why it won’t, the smart product leader will take a balanced approach - and is fully aware of the shortcomings of each mindset! So, you might sometimes prioritise based on competition - just make sure you’re solving the problem better! Sometimes based on what sales wants - just make sure it’s aligned with the vision and strategy in the long term. You might prioritise what’s easy or what you feel is right - but don’t cut corners on solving the hard problems and whatever you do, don’t neglect real insight and validation from your customers and your market!