Prioritization is a hot topic for product managers especially for those doing next year's product planning. Even the most seasoned PM struggles with determining which features and initiatives to put on the product roadmap. With so many opportunities competing for scarce resources, how to decide? With that in mind, I conducted a session at ProductCamp SoCal last month about different ways to approach product prioritization. Some of the best practice techniques are built in to ProductPlan (http://www.productplan.com). Whether you are developing a new product or maintaining an existing product here are 7 different techniques you can use to determine the best initiatives.

1. How to Prioritize
Your Product Initiatives
Jim Semick
Conducted at ProductCamp SoCal - November 15, 2014

2. So many opportunities.
How do you decide the
right ones for your
product roadmap?

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. Common Prioritization
Techniques

7. 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

8. Value Versus Complexity
Quadrant
Complexity / Effort
Business
Value
High
High
Low
1 2
?

9. Value vs Complexity +
Weighted Scoring

10. Product Function
Customer
Delight
High
Fully Implemented
Low
Absent
Basic (threshold) Features
Performance
Excitement Features
Kano Model
Customer Delight versus Product Function

11. 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

12. 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

13. www.productplan.com
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