|
If you're frustrated because those "nice to have" features never make the priority list, here's a suggestion that's served many of our customers well.
John Mansour Principal
How to Get "Nice to Have" Features
Product planning is nothing less than an exercise in prioritization. There are always hundred things you need but it always boils down to the ten you can do. So the question becomes, which ten will best help your cause? After many debates, discussions and political ploys decisions get made, right wrong or otherwise.
Given that this is the norm for every product planning cycle, it's impossible to justify the priority behind those "nice to have" features that foster so much customer goodwill and keep the squeaky wheels to a dull roar.
The Automotive Service Approach
Automotive service garages are famous for trying to sell you as many services as they can while they have your car. While revenue is the primary driver, the cost associated with the additional revenue is marginal for each additional service performed beyond the first.
If you're having new brakes installed on your car, the wheels have to be taken off and put back on. But while the wheels are off, it may also be a good opportunity to rotate and balance the tires. By combining these services, you save one additional schedule, drop-off and pick-up cycle and the service technician saves one additional cycle of dismounting and remounting the wheels.
If you apply the same logic to each product development cycle, there are some number of "nice to have" features you can get for little or nothing while the product is being taken apart and put back together. They usually come in areas of the product that are under heavy construction.
Delegate to the Engineers
The key to getting bonus features with this mentality is letting the engineers pick and chose the features they prefer to build. It usually boils down to the easiest ones. Keeping in mind that all such features fall into the "nice to have" category, priority is not necessarily relevant. Your goal is volume.
At the point where product management and development have an agreed upon plan for the next development project, you can introduce the "nice to have" list. It should be taken exactly for what it is and not interpreted as a change in priorities or a choice between priorities and "nice to haves." It simply means include whatever features are possible without extending the project timeline.
This approach may yield ten new features or it may yield only one. In either case, you'll get something that will be of great value to someone. And what product manager doesn't want at least one less squeaky wheel to oil?
|
