Speed matters

Ever wondered why a lot of organizations boast about working as a start up within their environment? To answer that question, lets look at what is the most important aspect for a start up - launching a new product in the market as quickly as possible. Why; because speed matters! It can literally make or break a start up. The speed at which a start up brings out a product to the market allows them to validate their idea and pivot based on the feedback they get. Start ups do this for one goal - be the market leader.

This mentality is essential not just for organizations of all sizes to maintain your market leader status. Being agile allows you to bring products and features in small chunks which allow you to validate your idea and pivot based on the feedback. Launching fast and consistently builds credibility with your customer and most importantly makes it harder for your competitors to catch up.

As a product manager in such an environment, you need to build an ability to prioritize ruthlessly. What I mean is break down your product/features into smaller chunks that can be delivered in 4-6 weeks. One way to do this efficiently is to work with your team to

• build an appetite,
• explain the problem and discuss the solution,
• clearly call out the rabbit holes to avoid and
• most importantly call out what not to build.

Track against your outcomes/KPI’s to build a focus on delivering high value features.

This approach allows you to cater to the early adopters from whom you can get valuable feedback which can further help build the feature at a faster pace and stay ahead of your competition and continue to build the gap between them.