POs vs. UX: The Feature Trap & How to Escape It

Product Owners See Features. UX Sees People. Let’s Fix That.

Product Owners get measured by roadmaps, features, and velocity. That’s the game. Ship fast. Ship often. Keep the backlog moving.

But here’s the hard truth: a feature no one understands or wants is just a waste of engineering hours.

And yet, how many times have we seen this happen? A new product update rolls out, and users don’t get it. The support team gets slammed with “Where do I find X?” tickets. Retention tanks. Someone throws up a dashboard metric to explain it away. And six months later? The feature is silently removed like it never existed.

Meanwhile, UX researchers and designers are in the corner screaming: "Maybe we should’ve tested this before shipping it?"

This isn’t a PO vs. UX problem. This is a shipping blindly vs. shipping smart problem. And the fix? UX research—not as a luxury but as a core part of how decisions get made.

Here’s what we’re unpacking today:

• Why research reveals what POs often miss
• How to turn gut feelings into data-backed decisions
• The secret to getting leadership to take UX seriously

Because let’s be honest: if you’re not designing for users, you’re just guessing.

Research Reveals What POs Might Miss

Why Data Alone Doesn’t Cut It

POs love numbers. MAU, DAU, CTR, drop-off rates. And that’s fine—numbers help measure what’s happening. But numbers won’t tell you why it’s happening.

Take Airbnb. For years, hosts complained that guests abandoned bookings at the final step. The assumption? Price sensitivity. The reality? A single input field—“Message to Host”—was confusing people.

Users didn’t know what to write. Was this a formal introduction? Were they supposed to explain why they weren’t serial killers? No one knew. So, they abandoned the process.

Airbnb’s fix? They added simple guidance text. Overnight, bookings increased—without touching pricing.

This happens everywhere.

POs push for more features when usability is the real issue. POs assume users want something when they actually don’t. POs optimize for metrics that don’t always tell the full story.

PO Hint: Fix Before You Feature

Before shipping a new feature, ask yourself:

• Would improving usability make this feature unnecessary?
• Have we tested for friction points before adding complexity?

Because adding more when what you have is already broken? That’s just UX debt waiting to explode.

Bridging the Gap Between Assumptions & Facts

How to Stop Making Expensive Mistakes

There’s always an excuse for skipping research.

• "We don’t have time."
• "We already know what users want."
• "The data says this is the right move."

All of these? Lies we tell ourselves before making bad product decisions.

POs often rely on analytics, feature adoption rates, and stakeholder input to guide roadmaps. But data only tells you what’s happening—it doesn’t explain why.

Low conversion rate? It could be price, bad UI, or a confusing call-to-action. High feature adoption? Maybe users don’t love it—they just have no alternative.

Three Quick UX Research Moves That Change Everything

1. Diary Studies – Users track their real behavior over time. Airbnb used this to refine its host onboarding process.
2. Rapid Usability Testing – A five-minute test with real users can expose friction before launch. Figma constantly iterates on its UI this way.
3. 5-Second Tests – Show a screen to a user for five seconds. Can they tell what your product does? If not, your messaging is failing.

What Happens When You Skip This? Meet Clippy.

Microsoft Clippy—the paperclip that haunted your childhood—was built on assumptions, not facts.

Microsoft thought: "Users need help! Let’s give them a proactive AI assistant!" Users thought: "How do I kill this thing?"

That’s the danger of assuming instead of asking.

PMP Contributor Insight:

A research-informed roadmap reduces waste. POs who integrate research early ship smarter, not just faster.

PO Hint: If your research process is “launch and see what happens,” you’re not iterating—you’re gambling.

Turning Research into Stakeholder Buy-In

How to Get UX the Respect It Deserves

User research is only as powerful as your ability to sell it.

Executives don’t care about user frustration or confusing navigation. They care about:

• Revenue impact
• Churn reduction
• Retention growth

If you want leadership to back UX efforts, speak their language.

How to Frame UX Insights So Leadership Actually Listens:

1. Bad: “Users feel frustrated.” Better: “Drop-off rate increased 22% after we added this step.”
2. Bad: “Navigation is unclear.” Better: “Time-to-task completion jumped by 40 seconds after we changed this menu.”

Example: How Netflix Used Research to Make a Simple, Powerful Change

Netflix users hated autoplay previews.

For years, UX teams fought to kill it, but execs didn’t budge—until researchers reframed the issue:

"We’re losing retention because users feel forced into watching content they don’t want."

Suddenly, the autoplay toggle was born.

PO Hint:

If you want leadership to invest in UX, start presenting data-driven arguments.

Why This All Matters

POs and UX aren’t enemies. They’re just solving for different things.

POs are judged by delivery speed. UX is judged by user impact.

But here’s the thing: a fast, broken product is worse than a slower, intuitive one.

What We Learned Today:

• Research reveals user needs that POs often miss.
• Quick UX methods prevent expensive mistakes.
• Stakeholders buy into UX when insights are framed as business impact.

So here’s the takeaway:

If UX research isn’t informing your roadmap, you’re not iterating—you’re guessing.

Because at the end of the day, great products aren’t just built fast—they’re built right.

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