How would you prioritize your product backlog?

Question

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Situation:
In my previous role as a Product Manager for a fintech startup, we were working
on developing a new feature set for our mobile banking app. The product backlog
had grown significantly due to new feature requests, technical debt, and
regulatory requirements. We needed a systematic approach to prioritize these
tasks to ensure timely delivery and maximum value to our users.
Task:
My responsibility was to prioritize the product backlog in a way that balanced
user needs, business objectives, and technical feasibility, all while ensuring
that the most critical features were developed first to meet our upcoming
release deadlines.
Action:
I implemented a prioritization framework that combined the MoSCoW method (Must
have, Should have, Could have, and Won't have) with weighted scoring based on
business impact, customer value, and development effort. I started by gathering
input from key stakeholders, including the engineering, marketing, and customer
support teams. Then, I worked closely with the development team to estimate the
effort required for each task.
After scoring each item in the backlog, I categorized them into Must-have (high
business impact and customer value, with reasonable development effort),
Should-have (important but not critical for the next release), Could-have
(nice-to-have features with low priority), and Won't-have (features that didn’t
align with our current goals).
Result:
This approach allowed us to clearly define our priorities and focus on
delivering the most valuable features first. We successfully launched the key
features on time, which led to a 20% increase in user engagement within the
first month. Additionally, by addressing technical debt alongside new features,
we improved the app's stability, resulting in a 15% decrease in support tickets
related to technical issues. The prioritization framework also enhanced
cross-functional collaboration, ensuring that everyone was aligned with the
product goals.

How would you prioritize your product backlog?

Answers