Is the tradeoff worth it?

Thomas Sowell, one of the smartest economists and thinkers of the 20th and 21st centuries, once said:

There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.

Sowell's original thoughts were directed at socio-political solutions. However, I believe that from a product perspective, he's right in this sphere too. There are no perfect solutions. The design of every solution comes as a result of weighing benefits and choosing which tradeoffs are acceptable for the next version.

Take, for example, an MVP. The Minimal Viable Product is the essential version of a product that, based on research, customers find worth their investment. Features and capabilities were cut from consideration due to cost, time, technical limitations, or customer feedback. These features and capabilities may return in a future iteration, but today, given what we know, what we are capable of, and how much funding we have, this is what we are offering.

Too often, we get stuck on the fool's errand of designing and delivering the PERFECT product or service. The release keeps getting pushed so we can include ONE more feature or capability or resolve ONE more issue. But why?

Sowell proposed three questions to consider for the perfect socio-political solutions. I believe those questions apply to product management too:

• Compared to what?
• At what cost?
• What hard evidence do you have?

While waiting too long to launch carries cost, so does moving too quickly.

Thought Exercise

Consider a product feature currently in the pipeline. Then apply the three questions above to that feature. For example,

• Product X has to have this feature - compared to what? Does the customer lose anything by not having it? Does the business lose out on revenue because it's missing?
• What are the financial and time costs to add the feature? What must be given up by spending that time or money? Neither resource is limitless.
• What hard data supports the decision? In simpler terms, is this a "Gotta have" or a "nice to have"? Most importantly, is this something customers need or want to use?

Conclusion

Tradeoffs drive everything. Resources are not limitless.

Step back. Identify the tradeoffs in play. Determine which tradeoffs deliver the best product today - because there is no perfect product.

Make progress not perfection.