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Launching a new technology product is an exciting time for business. There are many stakeholders in its success, from the management team to the design team to the end users. Sometimes, these different stakeholders focus on different priorities when it comes to the new product, and everyone thinks their ideas are “right” or “most important.” That can put a young technology leader or project manager in an uncomfortable and frustrating situation – a decision that will please some but frustrate others.
Experienced technology leaders know there are concrete strategies and standards to use to make sure everyone feels heard as they steer the ship in the right direction of the North Star – creating a marketable product that solves end-user problems in a unique and meaningful way. Below, 16 members of the Forbes Technology Council share tips to help a young technology leader or project manager navigate conflicting goals when planning a new product design.
1. Prioritize the needs of each stakeholder individually
One tip for managing conflicting goals is to actively listen to all stakeholders and prioritize their needs. It may be useful to create a scoring system or decision matrix to rate the importance of each stakeholder’s goals. It helps you make realistic decisions to move forward with product design. Communication and transparency with stakeholders are critical to finding a solution. – Sandro Shublaze, Datam
2. Turn to the average point of the scale
The weighted average score is an old but trusted method. Facilitate a workshop where all stakeholders review and score the features and goals and jointly decide and prioritize the things to be done. The workshop, scoring system and weighting criteria should be clear, and everyone should have time to explain their goals and priorities. – Spiros Liolis, micro focus
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3. Apply the 80/20 rule
Apply the 80/20 rule to the following two aspects. First, product usability: What are the 20% of features you believe 80% of your customers use? Give them priority. Second, ROI: What are the 20% of business processes that you believe bring 80% of the revenue? Give them priority. Use this approach, and most of your stakeholders—including your customers and business team—will go along. – Adeel Sarwar, CareCloud
4. Consider the most important current purpose of the business
Ultimately, all priorities must be driven by the most important business objective, every day, at all times. This varies by grade and market. The role of leadership is to clearly define this priority. This makes all other priority questions – especially for products – very clear: not about stakeholders, but about which direction will push the business towards its core objectives. – Maria Scott, TAINA Technology
5. Explain the ‘why’
Dealing with different priorities with different stakeholders is a difficult task for young leaders. The best way to help stakeholders get comfortable with the decisions being made is to start by explaining the “why” rather than the “how” or “what.” Once stakeholders know the “why,” they feel empowered, often suggest alternative solutions, and are less likely to criticize decisions that do not align with their personal priorities. – Vishwas Manral, Skyhigh Security
6. Evaluate the costs and benefits of new features
Stakeholders are not always beneficiaries, and their expectations can be very different from what the market wants. I suggest focusing on consumer needs to find product-market fit. Determine the most important features for the MVP, add some killer features to differentiate them from your competitors’ products, and apply product prioritization frameworks to evaluate the costs and benefits of implementing each new feature. – Pavel Orlov, Innowise Group
7. Find the biggest impact on the main goal of the business
Look for the element or feature of the product design that has the greatest impact on the core business goal. A business trying to innovate is best served by revolutionary behavior, but a business trying to catch up needs to prioritize core functionality. Revenue goals may lead to different behaviors than profit goals, but balancing around them helps everyone move faster. – Luke Wallace, Bottle Rocket
8. Focus on the number 1 goal of the new product
A product’s No. 1 goal is to make a purchase—it doesn’t matter if the user “likes” the product until they’re willing to pay for it. Everyone’s leading question should be: “How can we design this product to be easy to buy?” Discussion should be about removing the blocks that prevent each group or stakeholder from effectively achieving that common goal, not about meeting their own needs or wants. – Tom Lee, Lovo
9. Establish clearly the owner of the product
A major concern is establishing who owns the product for the entire product life cycle. A proper governance structure with clearly defined roles and responsibilities will go a long way. It doesn’t make sense for a product to be designed and developed and not approved by the product owner. The success of a product design and development depends on its adoption and use. The owner is the key! – Dr. Samuel Mbonu, Tangerine Africa
10. Study information on your target audience
If you’re faced with conflicting goals when planning a product design, stop and look at your target audience. This situation should not be a competition between two people. Instead, you should use data like surveys and analytics to figure out which features will work best for your prospects. When you put your intended audience first, good things follow. – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
11. Put functionality first
When all else fails, practicality comes first. I’ve built some really ugly products, but customers loved them because they did exactly what they were supposed to do. You can always come back later and fix the makeup, but you can’t overcome the poor first impression that’s left when a beautiful product doesn’t work. – Austin Lawson, Tyrium, Inc
12. Remember that the customer’s needs are second to none
Rank the priorities according to their understanding of the target audience. In the heat of the debate, some stakeholders may abandon the customer-centric approach and start pushing for different agendas. At that time, it is important to remember that the customer’s needs are second to none, so you should always prioritize the features and designs that best meet those needs. – Matthew Soopiars, The Power of Code
13. Keep the end user in mind
Go back to basics and tailor the product to the customer profile of the intended person. Engineers look at things through an engineering lens; Business people through the lens of business. At the end of the day who will use the product and design, cut through the noise. User experience must come first. – Louis Wynne-Jones, ThinkData Works
14. Accept the need for trade
Remember that trade-offs must be made; There is rarely a “perfect” solution that meets everyone’s needs. It is important to focus on the main goal of the product and simplify the design. Adding too many features makes the product more complicated, expensive and difficult to use. Trying to make a product that pleases everyone results in a product that pleases no one. – Aron Brand, CTERA
15. Prioritize the needs of the majority
Receiving conflicting opinions and questions from various stakeholders is a common occurrence in the tech industry. My advice is to go with a solution that will impact the largest number of individuals or customers in the most meaningful way. From a business perspective, it makes sense to work on products with the largest potential market possible. – Peter Abulzoloff, Mashvisor
16. Use a weighted matrix
Conflict can sometimes be good and can lead to a better overall product. Having said that, using tools such as business and technical requirements or functional and non-functional requirements is key. This allows all stakeholders to give their input, and weightage accordingly, with a clear explanation for the rating and record the pros and cons. – Arthur Miller, equipifi
