Prioritizing Product Features as a Product Manager
On a day-to-day basis, there is a need to prioritize product features. This is inherently important since it will define the outcome of the product. When I started working as a PM, I found it the hard way that you cannot get everything done. It requires an ongoing trade-offs to position your features based on the requirements defined.
One would think that the best way to prioritize is to not prioritize at all. That is simply not true. There is enough evidence that prioritizing features is important testament of how the PM navigates through the entire journey of project, project planning and execution.
Simply focusing on the areas that are limited to your conscience of view is not enough to fully scope or improve the product. There are infact categories of things that needs to be done.
In 2013, while I was working on Google Maps, I realized that there were a few areas of opportunity. So here is my assessment of starting this process.
- Evaluate and detail out Feature requirements through 1-pagers
- Dig deeper to isolate the key features and impact(what moves the needle).
- Top-down vs. Bottom’s up
- Final decision makers
