by John Mansour |
04.30.2006
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Product planning is nothing less than an exercise in prioritization. There are always a hundred things you need, but it boils down to the ten you can get done. So the question becomes, which ten best help your cause? After many debates and discussions, decisions get made for better or worse.
Given that this is the norm for every product planning cycle, it's impossible to justify a higher priority for those "nice to have" features that foster a great deal of customer goodwill and keep the squeaky wheels at bay.
The Automotive Service Approach
Automotive service garages are famous for trying to sell you as many services as they can while they have your car. While revenue is the primary driver, the cost associated with that additional revenue is marginal for each service performed beyond the first.
For example, if you're having new brakes installed on your car, the wheels have to be taken off and put back on. While the wheels are off, it may also be a good opportunity to rotate and balance the tires. By combining these services, you save one additional schedule, drop-off and pick-up cycle, and the service technician saves one additional cycle of dismounting and remounting the wheels.
If you apply the same logic to each product development cycle, there are some number of "nice to have" features you can get for little or nothing while the product is being taken apart and put back together. They usually come in areas of the product that are under heavy construction.
Delegate to the Engineers
The key to getting bonus features with this mentality is letting the engineers pick and choose the features they prefer to build. Keeping in mind that all such features fall into the "nice to have" category, priority is irrelevant. You're goal is volume.
At the point where product management and product development have an agreed upon plan for the next development project, you can introduce the "nice to have" list. It should be taken exactly for what it is, and not interpreted as a change in priorities or a choice between priorities and "nice to haves." It simply means include whatever features are possible without extending the project cost or timeline.
This approach may yield ten new features or it may yield only one. In either case, you'll deliver something of great value to someone. And what product team doesn't want at least one less squeaky wheel to oil.
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Last Updated ( 10.07.2008 )
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