Case StudyStream Team: Prioritising Assumptions,Prioritising Solutions - Mastering Prioritization in Product Development
Zettle, a financial technology company specializing in mobile payments, encountered difficulties in managing an ever-growing list of product ideas and development opportunities. The lack of a structured prioritization approach led to inefficiencies, with teams often working on low-impact projects while high-potential opportunities were neglected. This not only slowed down innovation but also affected the quality and relevance of the products being delivered to the market.
The Solution
Zettle adopted a more disciplined and strategic approach to prioritization in product development. Led by Anna Sitnikova, Product Manager at Zettle, the initiative focused on several critical components:
- Development of Prioritization Frameworks: The team implemented structured frameworks such as the ICE (Impact, Confidence, Ease) and MoSCoW (Must have, Should have, Could have, Won't have) methods to evaluate and rank opportunities.
- Impact Assessment: Each opportunity was assessed for its potential impact on key business metrics and customer satisfaction, ensuring that the most valuable projects received the highest priority.
- Assumption Testing: Before committing resources to development, assumptions underlying each opportunity were tested through experiments, prototypes, and market research to validate their feasibility and potential impact.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Cross-functional teams, including members from product, engineering, marketing, and sales, were involved in the prioritization process to ensure a holistic view and comprehensive evaluation of each opportunity.
- Regular Prioritization Reviews: The prioritization list was regularly reviewed and updated based on new data, feedback, and changing market conditions to ensure ongoing alignment with business goals.
- Transparent Decision-Making: The decision-making process was made transparent to all stakeholders, with clear communication about why certain projects were prioritized over others and the criteria used for these decisions.
Outcomes achieved
Implementing this structured prioritization approach resulted in several significant improvements for Zettle:
- Increased Focus on High-Impact Projects: The frameworks and methodologies used ensured that the teams focused their efforts on projects with the highest potential impact, leading to more meaningful and valuable product releases.
- Faster Innovation Cycles: By systematically validating assumptions and prioritizing effectively, Zettle was able to reduce development cycles and bring innovative products to market more quickly.
- Improved Product Quality: The thorough evaluation and validation processes led to higher-quality products that better met customer needs and expectations.
- Enhanced Team Alignment and Morale: Cross-functional collaboration and transparent decision-making processes improved team alignment, engagement, and morale, as everyone understood and agreed on the priorities.
- Adaptive and Responsive Strategy: The regular review and adjustment of priorities allowed Zettle to remain adaptive and responsive to new opportunities and market changes, maintaining its competitive edge in the fintech industry.
