Practice techniques to gracefully decline requests for product features in this interactive workshop. Make your day-to-day life as a PM easier by preventing escalations and removing a common source of stress.

1. Say No + Keep Stakeholders Happy
©OpenSky Consulting and Coach LLC 2016 David Galvin david@openskyconsult.com
 We can do anything, but we can’t do everything.
 Product Management prioritizes unmet needs with the highest business value.
 It’s (often) not what you say, but how you say it.
Best Practices examples
Agree, Validate, say “Yes”
Be on their side
(not necessarily to the request itself)
“Yes, I understand what you are asking.”
“Yes, I see why this is important to you.”
“I agree this problem is costing us money.”
Be curious, ask lots of questions, check your
understanding
“Tell me more, can you expand on that?”
“You seem really passionate about this. Help me
understand why this is so important”
Maintain Rapport Choose body language, relative positioning, tone
of voice, volume, pace, mental self-talk.
Be warm. Find things in common.
Set expectations & boundaries “I have only 10 minutes right now.”
Explain process, if applicable.
Make them part of the decision
Guide them to a shared understanding at a
higher level
(sometime they will retract their request or
deprioritize it themselves)
Explain bigger context, strategic direction,
framework for decision-making
Ask rhetorical questions “I wonder how our VP
would prioritize these?” “which would have the
bigger customer impact” “Given it would cost
$50K to fix, I wonder if it is really worth it”
Defer if appropriate
(of course, you must follow-through)
“Can you send me an email with the details?”
“Let’s check the level of effort with Engineering”
“we can consider it in the future”
Put the decision in context, Make them feel
you are on their side
“I’ll do my best to slot this in after we finish X, Y
& Z” “Given everything on our plate, we just
won’t be able to fit this in”
Be Charming when a firm No is required Practice your delivery & tone of voice
“Sorry, we just don’t have time right now”
They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.