Data Driven Prioritization and Roadmap Planning for Product Managers

1. Webinar:
Data-Driven Prioritization &
Roadmap Planning
Muralidhar Somisetty
Today’s Speaker16th Sep 2016

2. A Typical Challenge for a Product Manager

3. Product Manager’s Dilemma: Everyone’s
requirement is high-priority“
“My customer wants this feature or
else deal closure is at risk “
- Sales Account Manager
“Most support calls are related to this
buggy feature – Prioritize to fix.
- Support Manager
“Our competitor has this feature and
needs to be appear on our roadmap” –
Biz Dev Manager
“We need to ship the product
soon and I have committed
this feature”
- Boss

4. Opinion based Prioritization
• Prioritizing Details, not the big picture
• Decisions not being tied to the strategic goals
• Stakeholders questioning Prioritization
• Priorities usually being driven by the loudest executives
or the latest sales prospects
“Companies who build products based on internal opinion will eventually get beaten
by the competition.”

5. DESTINY OF THE PRODUCT – WHO OWNS IT ?

6. It is “Product Manager” – CEO of the Product

7. Product Management Cycle
Define/
Gather
Prioritize
Plan/
Roadmap
Build/
Launch
Validate/
Feedback
Key Phases
that define
destiny of the
Product

8. An objective data-driven prioritization model is the key for
defining credible and successful roadmaps.

9. Question for Product Managers…
Prioritization is a
difficult exercise for
Release 1 (or MVP)
Or
Release 2

10. Many Techniques for Product Prioritization
Ref: http://foldingburritos.com/
X-Axis: Qualitative
How oriented a method is towards getting
input from the inside or the outside world?
Y-Axis: Quantitative
How oriented a method is towards relying
on data & metrics over some expert’s
personal opinions.
Striking the right balance between Quantitative and
Qualitative methods depends on the many factors.

11. Popular Quantitative Methods : KANO Model
Ref: http://foldingburritos.com/
Customer Delight Vs Product Function

12. Popular Quantitative Methods : Prioritization
Ranking Matrix
Outside-In
Customer
Perspective
Inside-Out
Stakeholder
Perspective

13. Popular Quantitative Methods :
Value Vs Risk
Features are scored in two
dimensions: Value and Risk
Risk/Complexity :
• Schedule risk
• Cost risk
• Functionality risk
Value:
Customer Success
Business Value
Company Vision
Instinctive Method for Product Managers

14. Popular Quantitative Methods :
Value Vs Cost
Biggest Bang for the Buck –
Inherent ROI Analysis
Maximize Value Delivery Over
Time
Use Business Model Canvas for
MVP release, especially for start-
ups with scarce resources.

15. Align priorities/roadmap using Product KPIs
Customer
C-SAT, NPS, VIP Account, Feature
Adoption, Drop-off points,
Surveys
Company Strategic
Initiatives, Revenues, Top-line growth,
Margins,
CompetitionMark
et Size (TAM), Sales Pipeline, TTM,
Differentiators or Missing Features
Operations
Budget, Running Cost, Support,
Quality Metrics
Value
Quantifying
Value
Through
Product
Metrics

16. Popular Quantitative Methods :
Weighted Scoring Over Value/Cost
Add a layer of weighted scoring matrix on Value method to fine-tune the prioritization

17. Weighted Scoring (Sample)

18. Best Practices for Prioritization Exercise
1. Make it a inclusive process (team/stakeholders) regardless of technique.
2. Drive it is an objective exercise substantiated with data/metrics (as much as possible).
3. Focus on the big-ticket items (limit the number for productive discussion).
4. Bucketize requirements into broad/strategic themes.
5. Have guestimates ready from engineering.
6. Make it a customer-centric conversation on how to increase value.
7. Be realistic in setting goals.

19. Key Takeaways
1. Striking the right balance is an art and that comes only with experience.
2. Maintain Transparency with Stakeholders (regardless of methods/techniques).
3. Provide insight into feature selection process for stakeholders.
4. Data-driven Prioritization will lead to quick convergence and easy buy-in.

20. Thank You
Woises
linkedin.com/in/muralis @muralidhar9 woises.com/blog