1. SAYING NO TO
GOOD IDEAS
Prioritization

2. @prodculture
Bruce McCarthy
Founder, Product Culture
ORACLE
ATG
IMARKET
D&B
NETPROSPEX
NUANCE
LOCALYTICS
SKYHOOK WIRELESS
VISTAPRINT
ZIPCAR
HOBSONS
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ENERNOC
SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC
ONCAM
EVARIANT
HUAWEI
INTRALINKS
IMOTIONS
ROUNDCORNER
HEALTHWISE
BPMA
PRODUCT MANAGER
DIRECTOR
VP
CHIEF PRODUCT PERSON
PRESIDENT
CEO
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS
ENGINEERING MANAGER
UX DESIGNER
DATA ANALYST
MARKETING
SALES
SCRUM MASTER
ENTERPRISE COACH
STARTUP ADVISOR
TRAINER
AUTHOR
SPEAKER

3. @prodculture
WWW.PRODUCTROADMAPPING.COM

4. MY FIRST MONTH AS VP

5. @prodculture

6. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
WHERE DO YOU STRUGGLE?

7. “My priority list is soooooooo long!”

8. “My challenge is to actually finish a task and not just slot
something as a higher priority and start working on the new
one.”

9. Product Roadmaps Relaunched, O’Reilly 2017

10. Clark and Wheelwright (1993)

11. https://www.infoq.com/articles/how-kanban-works

12. ASSUME YOU’LL HAVE
TO STOP AT ANY TIME
Prioritization Rule #1

13. CHERRY PICK 10X IDEAS
SAY NO TO THE MERELY GOOD
FOCUS ON OUTCOMES, NOT OUTPUTS

14. CUSTOMER PROBLEMS
SOLUTIONS / FEATURES
NEW PRODUCT IDEAS
ASSUMPTIONS

15. Bad Ways to Rank Ideas
Your CEO’s gut No longer in touch
Analyst opinions Mostly backward-looking
Popularity Most customers are small
Sales requests Change every week
Services requests Mostly incremental

16. Bad Ways to Rank Ideas
Your gut No longer in touch
Analyst opinions Mostly backward-looking
Popularity Most customers are small
Sales requests Change every week
Services requests Mostly incremental

17. Bad Ways to Rank Ideas
Your gut No longer in touch
Analyst opinions Mostly backward-looking
Popularity Most customers are small
Sales requests Change every week
Services requests Mostly incremental

18. Bad Ways to Rank Ideas
Your gut No longer in touch
Analyst opinions Mostly backward-looking
Popularity Most customers are small
Sales requests Change every week
Services requests Mostly incremental

19. Bad Ways to Rank Ideas
Your gut No longer in touch
Analyst opinions Mostly backward-looking
Popularity Most customers are small
Sales requests Change every week
Services requests Mostly incremental

20. Bad Ways to Rank Ideas
Your gut No longer in touch
Analyst opinions Mostly backward-looking
Popularity Most customers are small
Sales requests Change every week
Services requests Mostly incremental

21. @prodculture

22. Delighters
(wows)
Satisfier
s
Basic
Expectations
(musts)
Satisfaction
Did it very wellDidn’t do it at all
Kano
Must Haves
Should Haves
Could Haves
Won’t Haves
MoSCoW
Feasibility Desirability
Viability
Engineering
Manufacturing
Supply Chain
UX Design
Research
Sales & Marketing
Customer Support
Product
Owner
Executives
Founders
FVD

23. Kano Delighters
MoSCoW Communicating Scope
DVF Quick Screening
Critical Path MVPs
ROI Scorecard Multiple Factors, Long Lists

24. OBJECTIVES DRIVE
PRIORITIES

25. MEANS VS ENDS
HTML5 Redesign
Social Integration
Customer Requests
Revenue
Scalability
Transformational Ideas
Grow lifetime value
Grow market share
Competitive barriers
Grow recurring revenue
Fulfill more demand
Leverage assets

26. @prodculture
UNIVERSAL BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
3 DRIVERS / 10 OBJECTIVES
GROWTH
Improve recurring revenue
Grow market share
Fulfill more demand
Develop new markets
PROFIT
Support higher prices
Improve lifetime value
Leverage assets
Lower costs
VALUE
Support core value
Barriers to competition
Pre-Product-Market Fit Growth Phase Maturity

27. @prodculture

28. COMPANY MISSION, PRODUCT VISION, AND OKRS TIE TOGETHER
EXAMPLE FROM SPACE-X
Company Mission: Make going to Mars a reality in this
lifetime.
Product Vision: Create a high efficiency, low cost space
travel vehicle that can seat multiple civilian passengers.
Objective: Reducing the cost of space travel to what an
average American family can afford.
Key Result: A target cost for travel to Mars under $200,000.

29. @d8a_driven

30. CLEAR OBJECTIVES
SIMPLE MATH
GOOD DISCUSSION +
_________________
ALIGNED PRIORITIES

31. VALUE / EFFORT = PRIORITY
The time and
resources required to
execute the initiative
Expected contribution
to customer needs and
business objectives
ROI Scorecard
Define both “bang” and “buck” to ensure you do the most leveraged things first.
@prodculture

32. VALUE / EFFORT = PRIORITY
The time and
resources required to
execute the initiative
Expected contribution
to customer needs and
business objectives
(V1+V2+V3)
ROI Scorecard
@prodculture

33. VALUE / EFFORT = PRIORITY
The time and
resources required to
execute the initiative
Expected contribution
to customer needs and
business objectives
(E1+E2)
ROI Scorecard
@prodculture

34. VALUE / EFFORT = PRIORITY(V / E) * C
Confidence
Certainty that your scores are accurate
ROI Scorecard
@prodculture

35. @prodculture
Theme
Value to
Objective 1
Value to
Objective 2
Value to
Objective 3
Effort Raw Confidence Priority
Full reusability 2 2 2 1 6 75% 4.5
Refueling in
orbit
2 1 2 1 5 85% 4.25
Propellent
production on
Mars
1 1 0 2 1 25% 0.25
Right
propellant
0 0 2 2 1 10% 0.1
Order of priority
V / E = Raw-2 to +2 Scale

36. 0,1,2

37. NOW WHAT?
Ok, you have a scorecard…

38. @prodculture
SHUTTLE
DIPLOMACY
@prodculture

40. @prodculture
Core Team
Product Owner
Design
Engineering
Operations
Customers
Executives
Research
Customer
Support
Production
Finance
Vendors
& Partners
Sales
Marketing
& PR
Other
Product Teams

41. @prodculture

42. TEAM AFTER1:1 FIRST
@prodculture

43. “I’ve got a draft set of
priorities. Would you
help me refine it?”

44. @prodculture

45. “I’ll present our
priorities at the leadership
meeting on Friday”
Collaboration

46. MY FIRST MONTH AS VP

47. CLEAR OBJECTIVES
SIMPLE MATH
GOOD DISCUSSION +
_________________
ALIGNED PRIORITIES

48. @prodculture
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