This is the third post in a series I recently started on software development and the role of the Product Manager. If you haven’t already done so, it might be a good idea to read Part 1 (Overview) and Part 2 (How to ensure that product requirements are informed by user needs) before your read on. This post continues the discussion on Product Requirements and the different sources that should feed into requirements.
In Part 2 of this series I discussed the role of user needs in product requirements, and in this article I’d like to talk about the role of business needs and technology needs, and making sure that the right balance is struck when incorporating these (often loud, often conflicting) voices in the organization into what gets built. So, let’s dive in…
Business needs
When I was at eBay, we often heard the mantra from our executive team, “If you fix the user experience, you fix the business.” Lovely words, but when it comes time to decide what to build, “Fix the business” usually comes first. This is, of course, not a bad thing, but unfortunately the best user experience often means taking revenue-generating features out of the product. Would we have banner ads if UX really was king? Don’t think so…