How to Effectively Prioritize What to Build as a Product Manager

I came across this insightful article and wanted to share some key takeaways that resonated with me. Prioritization is one of the biggest challenges product managers face—balancing endless ideas with limited resources is no easy task. While frameworks like RICE or ICE are helpful, they often oversimplify the process. Instead, this article introduces a pyramid approach that organizes prioritization into multiple layers:

1?? Vision & Strategy: Start at the top. Your vision and strategy guide everything below. Prioritization here means clearly defining what not to pursue.

2?? Business Goals: These turn your vision into actionable, time-bound objectives, setting the stage for progress.

3?? Themes & Objectives: Themes link goals to the roadmap, like focusing on "improving onboarding" with tasks such as refining sign-up flows.

4?? Problem Areas: Prioritize challenges within themes to maintain focus and alignment.

5?? Opportunities: This is where traditional frameworks (like RICE) come into play, helping evaluate feasibility and impact.

6?? Solutions: At the base, teams brainstorm and test solutions, ensuring alignment with higher-level goals.

The key takeaway? Prioritization isn’t just about deciding what’s important—it’s about making trade-offs and staying aligned with your vision. By following this pyramid approach, you can ensure strategic stability at the top while staying flexible at the bottom for quick pivots.