Get your priorities straight

Channel your inner Leslie Knope or Amy Santiago and grab your favorite post it notes or flash cards.

booyah | Leslie knope, Amy poehler, Knope

1. On each card write out everything you have to do this week, seven days.

2. Now lay out all those cards so you’ve got a good view of them all and ask yourself the following questions: what has to get done? What would be nice to do? What has to be done today? As you ask the questions, you probably are rethinking some of those things, right? Do you really need a Target run or would it be great to sip a Starbucks and wander the aisles aimlessly listening to your favorite podcast?

Writing out the tasks helps to visualize and move things around in priority.

3. Next with those same cards, what if you only had 1 day to get anything done? Can some of those cards wait? Could you get more done in 1 day vs 7?

Congratulations! You’ve just gone through a prioritization exercise! We prioritize everything in our lives, what we do, where we go, which party to attend, which stores to run to for supplies, which chores to do. Why should work be any different?

There are dozens of prioritization methods and measurements out there that you can use. Some are more financial focused, some are business value focused. No matter what method you choose, choose the one that works for you and your team.

Seeing everything out can help you start to group similar items and recognize themes

Here are some prioritization methods: MoSCoW, Backlog Grooming, WSJF, story mapping, QFD, and so many more. My go to is the MoSCoW method, it’s an acronym broken down in the following way: Must have: these items are must haves for companies, customers must have it in order to sell, use, buy, you name it, it’s in. Should have- these are features or things the product should have to make it more useable, more buyable, etc. these are close follows to should have but in the event of money or budget constraints when something’s gotta give, these sit out. Could have- sure, the coffee maker could have two hot pots for two mugs of coffee, but it’s not absolutely necessary, lower priority or easy backlog candidates. Wont have (also ‘would be nice have’ for POs who like to say gentle nos): strong POs can say no easily, but back it up with metrics, stats, business objectives, levels of effort, etc…, nicer POs can say these items would be nice to have but offer no particular value, as in no one would notice of it wasn’t in there, and few people would use it/like it, even if Bob in sales wants it.

Prioritization is not done in a vacuum, but if you find yourself having to prioritize a series of stories or bugs or projects, consider a method above or try a bunch of different ones that work for you, your team, or your company. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you get there, only that you do get prioritized.

If the Nine-Nine was a Life Coaching Center - The Happy Sensitive — Make it official with a binder (or the digital binder of confluence, both are good)

Tl;Dr: pick a method that works for you to prioritize your time, your team’s time, and try out MoSCoW, hey it even has it’s own theme song ;).

What is Product

Think of your favorite product. For me, it’s my robot vacuum, Roomba’s cooler and cheaper cousin, Eufy. For you, it might be your car, your phone, a comfy bed or couch, or even a snuggie. Now think about why you love that product. Does it solve a problem for you? Chances are it brings you joy, and you’re likely to recommend it to everyone you know. To me, Eufy quietly and efficiently vacuums my floors every morning before I get out of bed, a chore I previously did at least 4 times per week. He saves me time, he cleans up the dog fur and crumbs, and he does it well. Behind the products we love are Product people; working in the ambiguous world between the people that use the product and the people that build it. Welcome to my world.

The best way to describe Product is having one foot on the business side and one foot on the development side within an organization. On the business side, they can crunch financials, calculate and quantify risks, communicate plans and timelines, manage expectations, synthesize enormous amounts of data (customer, stakeholder, executive, strategic) and make business decisions quickly and confidently. On the development side, they communicate a vision to a team of designers, engineers, and analysts, and step back to allow teams to get the work done but keep them on track to the overall product vision to eventually deliver a Eufy as a finished product. Product then helps to communicate why Eufy is the greatest robot vacuum of all time in an already crowded robot vacuum market.

To break this down even simpler, Product is always answering the question of ‘why?’.

“Why does this take so long to develop?” Executives will ask. “Why are even developing this at all?” Engineers will ask. “Why can’t I have it now?” The customers will implore. Through various tools and techniques, Product’s job is to remain on the offensive, always prepared to answer these questions from either side of the organization. It’s a delicate balance of hard and soft skills and the job is not for the faint of heart. It’s a difficult role, made all the more difficult by it’s ambiguity.

Throughout my musings on Product Offensive we’ll dive deeper into the world of Product, from practical advice, to tools and techniques to manage the most challenging problems. So why stay tuned? Because great Products take great Product people, and there’s no playbook for how to do this job. But if you want to know how great Product people are developed, this can help you on that way, and maybe together we can develop the next best Eufy.

The Journey Begins

My name is Kendall and I’m a product person. When I got started in product work, there was no playbook, no guide to how to do this job. 10 years later, there still isn’t, but I picked up some practical advice that I hope you can use in your day-to-day. Thanks for joining me on this journey!

“What I do all day, is meet with teams of people, and work on ideas, and solve problems, to make new products, to make new marketing programs, whatever it is.” – Steve Jobs

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