Feature prioritization in product management helps you determine which product feature or functionality your team should work on first. The process aims to avoid useless practices and provide value to customers using limited resources.
This post discusses the importance of prioritization for product managers and explores some renowned prioritization frameworks.
Let us get started.
Why Prioritization is Crucial to Product Managers?
The job of a product manager is complex. They play numerous roles altogether. However, they must know where to put maximum effort for making a product successful.
Prioritization helps managers focus on the most valuable and impactful features instead of getting stuck on insignificant tasks.
Prioritization helps with:
Optimization of Resources
No matter what product you create, resources are always limited. You can’t spend time, money, and human resources on unimportant things. Prioritization helps managers allocate resources to the most valuable tasks.
Focusing on Strategies and Business Goals
With a solid prioritization strategy, managers can rest assured that their product development efforts are aligned with your company’s goals.
Customer Fulfillment
To continuously improve your product, you must prioritize customers’ requirements. Failing to meet customers’ expectations is a sign that you did not address their preferences.
Decision Making
Individuals with a clear prioritization framework make better decisions. In the current fast-paced business environment, delayed decisions can lead to missed opportunities.
Better Productivity
Prioritization minimizes confusion significantly. With everything planned, the team works confidently. It naturally boosts motivation and productivity.
What to Prioritize?
A product management team has to consider various factors throughout the prioritization process.
Customers’ Requirements
Your first preference should be understanding the pain points of your target audience.
Market Demand
Analyze market trends and competitors to ensure your product meets current market demand.
The Right Allocation of Resources
Distribute time, budget, and manpower appropriately to develop the best product.
User Experience
Assess the influence of your product on users. Get to know if customers are satisfied with the end product.
Popular Prioritization Frameworks
Product managers use various frameworks to implement feature priority. They provide a systematic approach to assess priorities based on different criteria. These can be value, impact, customer requirement, and more.
RICE
RICE stands for Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort. It is a well-known prioritization framework that helps product managers make informed decisions.
Reach
It analyzes how many people will benefit from your product within a specific time. Managers measure it in terms of the number of users.
Impact
Impact measures how a product feature affects the business. It shows to what extent the feature enhances the user experience.
You can measure the impact as follows:
- Massive Impact
- High Impact
- Medium Impact
- Low Impact
- Minimal Impact
Confidence
Confidence defines the certainty of your team for Reach, Impact, and Effort. Confidence is scored on a percentage basis.
- 100% = High confidence
- 80% = Medium confidence
- 50% = Low confidence
Effort
Effort estimates the time and resources needed to implement a feature. You can measure it by analyzing how much work a team member can do in a month.
The formula for calculating the score of RICE is:
RICE SCORE= REACH X IMPACT X Confidence
EFFORT
KANO
KANO is another renowned framework used by product managers. It prioritizes product features based on how they influence customer satisfaction.
Primary components of the KANO Model include:
Must-Haves/ Basic Features
These are the primary functions of your product. In their absence, the product won’t be valuable to customers.
Performance Features
The satisfaction of your customers depends on performance features. If you want to improve the performance of your product, work on these features.
Delighters
These are the features that customers do not expect. However, when delivered, they offer a sense of happiness.
Let us understand these feature categories by an example. For instance, features of an E-commerce mobile application can be categorized as below:
- Basic Features: Secure checkout and easy navigation.
- Performance Features: Personalized recommendations and quick load time
- Delighters: Augmented reality feature for trying products virtually.
In the KANO framework, managers collect customer inputs through feedback, interviews, and surveys.
MOSCOW
MOSCOW stands for Must-haves, Should-haves, Could-haves, and Won’t-haves. With this technique, product managers categorize features according to their importance.
Must-haves
These are the primary features of your product. In their absence, your product will not work.
Should-haves
These features are important. They improve the value of your product.
Could-haves
Could-haves are not crucial features. However, if your product includes them, it would be beneficial.
Won’t-haves
These are features that you do not want to include at present.
Opportunity Scoring Framework
The opportunity scoring framework also assists managers in prioritizing features. The process involves getting feedback to learn which features are more important to customers.
You also get to know how satisfied they are with those features. If customers are not pleased, the team can work on those crucial features.
Conclusion
Prioritization is a strategy companies use to develop a product that resonates with their target audience and business goals.
These are some tried and tested prioritization frameworks. You can choose the one which is relevant to your specific context.
If you are struggling to launch a website, application, or IT product, consult with me. As an experienced technology advisory consultant, I can plan strategies to build a successful product. We can work together to assess the priorities of your customers.
