Product Thinking Episode 250: Building Smart: Clarity Over Perfection
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Oct 3, 2025 Discover how product managers can effectively gauge when a feature is ready for delivery. The conversation emphasizes the importance of collaboration with developers and flexible specifications. Learn about the two crucial gates—validation and specification—and how to assess risks for each feature. Melissa shares various validation methods and the significance of establishing clear success criteria before shipping. Plus, insights on avoiding common pitfalls like analysis paralysis and ensuring teams adapt through iterative processes.
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Validate The Why Before Building
- Validate before building by de-risking the why and the what, not the how.
- Use interviews, prototypes, A/B tests, and competitive analysis to gather evidence before delivery.
Let Risk Dictate Confidence Needed
- Match your required confidence level to the feature's risk profile rather than seeking 100% certainty.
- Higher cost, technical, user-impact, or business risk demands stronger validation.
Define Enough For Developers To Start
- Provide enough specifications so developers can start without guessing, focusing on flows, data, and integrations.
- You don't need pixel-perfect designs or every edge case to begin backend work and iterate later.