One Knight in Product
Mark Gray's Hot Take - We Shouldn't Be Prioritising By Effort (with Mark Gray, Senior Product Manager @ Nexford University)
Oct 9, 2024
Mark Gray, a Senior Product Manager at Nexford University, brings 12 years of expertise in both B2B and B2C sectors. He challenges the traditional 'value divided by effort' prioritization, arguing it hampers innovation and creates a feature factory mindset. Mark advocates for engaging diverse teams in discussions to determine priorities based on desired outcomes. He also discusses the balance between quick wins and high-impact projects, emphasizing the need for intentional decision-making and collaborative dialogue in product management.
16:13
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Quick takeaways
- Prioritizing product initiatives solely by value divided by effort can hinder innovation and reduce strategic vision within teams.
- Engaging in collaborative discussions across diverse teams fosters a deeper understanding of business goals and promotes more impactful project initiatives.
Deep dives
Rethinking Product Prioritization
Product managers are encouraged to move away from the traditional prioritization method of calculating value divided by effort. This common approach often leads to a lack of vision and strategic direction, reducing teams to a 'feature factory' mindset. Instead of merely ranking a list of potential solutions based on perceived value or ease of implementation, product managers should engage in deeper discussions that consider multiple factors and encourage innovative thinking. Such conversations can lead to emergent insights about which initiatives to pursue, emphasizing the need for cross-functional collaboration.
