How to Prioritize Your Product Initiatives

Jim Semick

So many opportunities.

How do you decide the right ones for your product roadmap?

Let’s Discuss

Aligning strategy with goals

Common prioritization techniques

How to get stakeholder buy-in

What we learned after interviewing dozens of product managers.

Tips and more group discussion

Have You Seen These Challenges?

Prioritizing details, not the big picture

Priorities not tied to strategic goals

Priorities driven by execs not customers

Priorities determined by sales prospects

Stakeholders question priorities

Too much subjectivity

Before You Start

• Think high level and categorize – Strategic initiatives/goals (growth, satisfaction,

competition, etc.)– Product line or category– Type (new feature, maintenance, UX, etc.)

• Group smaller initiatives into themes• Bring customer evidence to the table• Understand customer value & rough cost

Common Prioritization Techniques

The technique you choose is not as important as…

…the conversation about priorities

…agreement on the criteria

…your product management skills

…helping others arrive at the same conclusion based on evidence

Value Versus Complexity Quadrant

Complexity / Effort

Business Value

High

HighLow

1 2

?

Value vs Complexity + Weighted Scoring

Product Function

Customer Delight

High

Fully Implemented

Low

Absent

Kano ModelCustomer Delight versus Product Function

Other Techniques

• Buy a Feature• Opportunity Scoring

– Importance vs satisfaction• Affinity Grouping (super fun)

– Opportunities on sticky notes– Group similar items– Vote & Rank

• Story Mapping

Getting Executive Buy-In

• Be transparent with execs about your process - involve them

• Get agreement up front on framework and goals to use for prioritization

• Involve multiple stakeholders to get different viewpoints on prioritization

www.productplan.com

Thank You!