Title: Product Strategy Means Saying No
Context: “No” means “no”. Except when planning a product. In which case no one ever says “no”.
Synopsis: The reasons to put that new feature in your product are endless. “Customers are demanding it!” “It’s a small feature!” “We’ll lose business if we don’t do it!” And—my personal favorite—”Our competitors are already doing it!” We should all wash our mouths out with soap the next time any of these profane proclamations pass our lips. When did we become so unsure of our own abilities? Don’t we know our product better than anyone else? Don’t get me wrong, customers and competitive analysis and capacity are all parts of the overall product planning equation. However, the impossibility of building a coherent product in a multipolar framework where all data points are given prioritized equivalence only serves to stretch the form into a misshapen blob and not the lean, usable design everyone is struggling to realize. A whole lot more “no” on the strategic side will lead to even more “yes” from end users.
Best Bit: “You look at competitors and think: ‘We Need To Copy All These!’ They look at their app and think: ‘We Need To Remove Half Of These!”
via intercom.com
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