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What methodology do you utilize or recommend for organizing or prioritizing features?

3 Answers
Navin Ganeshan
Navin Ganeshan
Amazon Head of Driver Products, Amazon RelayMay 31

This is definitely a popular topic of discussion amongst PMs, and probably a heated one at times. This is a good post that covers the most common including RICE, KANO and story-maps. https://roadmunk.com/guides/product-prioritization-techniques-product-managers/

Personally, I'm less dogmatic about the specific methodology than the discipline in using some framework, even it's as basic as attaching value-to-effort. Most seasoned PMs will concede that they always have to make tweaks or compromises to a standard framework to suit their team or company. So, I would not suggest looking for the best one, but one that works best for your team. Attaching Value-to-Effort, or using story-points are always a great place to start. The Kano model or MosCow model are similar and allow for a more nuanced approach that lets you distinguish between must-haves and nice-to-haves, and help you calibrate how much to invest in back-end scaling which may not be as noticable.   

But always take into account what stage of evolution your product is in, and the extent of data that have to make prioritiation decisions. Your approach is necessarily diffrerent when launching a new product vs evolving one that is several generations old.  

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Chris Omland
Chris Omland
Workiva Vice President Of Product ManagementApril 6

This might be unconventional, but I don't rely on a single methodology or framework for prioritization. You can use approaches like RICE or Value vs. Effort. Still, they should only be one part of the prioritization process. We could automate the whole thing if it were as simple as applying a scoring system. But there's so much more to consider!

Product Managers must consider factors like business context, technology team input, long-term strategy, and more. My top recommendation is to start by identifying the outcome you want to achieve. Understand the "why" behind that outcome and how you'll measure success. This understanding should serve as a baseline for prioritization.

576 Views
Lisa Dziuba
Lisa Dziuba
Lemon.io Head of Growth Product MarketingAugust 11

Product prioritization is the art of choosing the right features to develop, in the correct order at the opportune time. It balances the importance of features alongside their complexity and the end value they will deliver. The main idea of prioritization in Product Management is to maximize business results with the available resources. 

Despite all difficulties with feature prioritization, you can get it right using one of the popular frameworks. Consider them a way to structure your thinking process, keep focus and stay on course. The job of the Product Owner leading this process is to pick the proper framework for the company’s needs. I used and worked with those prioritization methodologies:

1. RICE Method

2. Impact–Effort Matrix
3. Feasibility, Desirability, and Viability Scorecard
4. Weighted Scoring Prioritization
5. MoSCoW Analysis
6. Cost of Delay

I shared my practical learning of using those prioritization models with a detailed guide to every framework + many practical examples of how it looks in practice. I hope, it will help your prioritization tasks!

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