Rishabh Maheshwari

The Dilemma of a Product Manager

It was 9 AM on a Monday morning, and Anika, a product manager at a fast-growing SaaS company, stared at the overwhelming list of feature requests on her screen. On one side, customers were demanding new integrations, better UX, and faster performance. On the other, the executive team was focused on revenue growth, efficiency, and competitive differentiation. The pressure was mounting—how could she decide what to build next?

This is the classic struggle of product managers: balancing customer needs with business objectives. Prioritization is an art, and those who master it create products that thrive. But how do you strike the right balance?

Understanding the Two Forces

Before making decisions, Anika knew she had to define the two forces at play:

Customer-Centric Priorities: These include feature requests, bug fixes, and enhancements that directly impact user experience. If ignored, customers might churn.
Business-Centric Priorities: These involve revenue-generating features, cost-cutting measures, or strategic initiatives that ensure long-term sustainability. Without these, the company won’t survive.

Aligning Stakeholders: Speaking the Right Language

Anika knew that her customers and executives spoke different languages. To bridge the gap:

She quantified customer needs with data: How many users requested a feature? How much churn was linked to missing functionality?
She tied product improvements to business metrics: Would this feature increase retention? Drive conversions? Reduce support costs?
She built a narrative for engineers: How would this fit within technical constraints? What trade-offs were involved?

By speaking their language, she ensured that both customers and business stakeholders saw value in the decisions.

The Kano Model: Separating Must-Haves from Delighters

To further refine her approach, Anika used the Kano Model, which categorizes features into:

Basic Needs (Must-Haves): If missing, customers will be frustrated (e.g., secure payment processing in a fintech app).
Performance Features: The better they are, the happier customers are (e.g., page load speed in an e-commerce site).
Exciters (Delighters): Features customers didn’t expect but love (e.g., personalized recommendations).

She realized that while delighters were great, missing must-haves could sink the product. She prioritized accordingly.

Execution: The Trade-Offs and Tough Choices

With her framework in place, Anika now had to make trade-offs. A high-paying customer requested a custom dashboard, but it didn’t align with the company’s broader goals. Meanwhile, improving onboarding could boost activation rates across thousands of users. The choice was clear—she focused on onboarding.

The executive team wasn’t pleased about losing a big customer, but she backed her decision with data. The improved onboarding flow led to a 15% increase in new-user activation, far outweighing the revenue from one client.

This is the reality of product management: saying no to good ideas to focus on great ones.

Lessons from the Journey

By the end of the quarter, Anika had successfully balanced customer demands and business objectives. Her takeaways?

Use Data to Drive Decisions: Avoid prioritizing based on gut feelings—measure impact.
Speak the Language of Stakeholders: Customers, executives, and engineers all need different justifications.
Differentiate Needs from Wants: Not all customer requests are equal.
Accept That You Can’t Please Everyone: Prioritization is about making trade-offs.