Pants and Umbrellas and Features
Pants and Umbrellas and Features
An adage on product prioritization
You’re rushing out of the house on a gray day. You’re late. You’re pant-less; you are sans pant.
Worse, you’re already downstairs and half out the door when you realize you left your umbrella upstairs.
You heard there might be rain, but you’ve little time to deliberate and less to act.
You figure that you’ll roll the bones. Worst case scenario, if the rain is too much, you can always buy one along the way.
Sure, you might waste a couple of bucks *if*, but you’ll definitely be late now were you to turn back or even slow down.
You finish putting on your pants mid-stride as you hustle out the door.
Product prioritization is in many ways a series of pants and umbrella decisions.
You can’t leave without your pants: you might not want to leave without your umbrella. But unless you can distinguish between the two and decide quickly, you’ll be late every time.