You’re presenting a well-crafted product roadmap to a room of stakeholders and workforce members when a senior chief begins to take over the assembly. This particular person is asserting their very own judgments, suggesting alterations, and customarily shifting focus away out of your plan. Whereas these actions could come from a spot of fine intentions and former expertise, the impact might be demoralizing. If not dealt with appropriately, this situation may have adverse penalties on the product roadmap.
For those who’ve been a product supervisor for any size of time, you’ve possible discovered your self on this state of affairs, face-to-face with the HiPPO: the “highest-paid particular person’s opinion.” The opinions of a high-ranking or influential particular person within the group—who is commonly the particular person in a gathering with the very best wage—are inclined to take priority over the insights of different workforce members. With such authority, the HiPPO can have a big impression on the course of the product roadmap; thus, going up towards, and even disagreeing with, the HiPPO might be extraordinarily intimidating.
I’ve been constructing merchandise for greater than a decade and I nonetheless repeatedly encounter the HiPPO. Over that point, nonetheless, I’ve developed methods to enact earlier than any product roadmap presentation to make sure stakeholder satisfaction and the most effective roadmap doable.
Why HiPPOs Are Harmful
In a product improvement context, the HiPPO’s impression might be harmful once they impose adjustments based mostly on private expertise, instinct, or with out full data of the product or the vary of things that might have an effect on its success. Moreover, these adjustments might not be in step with buyer wants or market developments, leading to merchandise which are outdated, irrelevant, or fail to fulfill buyer expectations.
One other downside arises when the HiPPO is danger averse, preferring the relative security of techniques they’ve seen work effectively previously. This may result in an absence of innovation or a stagnant product roadmap. It might additionally result in losing time and sources on initiatives that find yourself failing, being axed, or getting redirected down the road.
Typically, government enter can lead to roadmaps which have much less room for creativity and experimentation. Agile product roadmaps ought to talk outcomes reasonably than the outputs that Waterfall roadmaps sometimes do, however the 2023 State of Product Administration Report discovered that 70% of roadmaps most affected by requests from government management deal with speaking outputs over outcomes.
Product roadmaps regularly influenced by the HiPPO can stifle creativity and harm the morale of the product workforce. That is probably essentially the most detrimental impression of all, as a high-functioning workforce is significant to success.
Methods to Handle the HiPPO
Whereas HiPPOs pose many challenges, there are steps you possibly can take to keep up management of your product and get buy-in from management.
Develop a Excessive-quality, Proof-based Roadmap
Step one is to make sure you have a product roadmap that works. This can be a vital basis for countering any opposing views, as you possibly can have full confidence that your roadmap is the correct technique to go.
A powerful product roadmap ought to embrace a transparent imaginative and prescient and targets, in addition to a timeline for attaining them, with key milestones plotted. Determine the stakeholders concerned at every stage of the method. Select how you’ll measure success. Determine which metrics to trace (e.g., buyer satisfaction, engagement, income). Use this information to validate the standard of your future roadmaps.
For good product roadmap execution, establish how you’ll observe progress, evaluation and replace the roadmap, and take a look at and validate concepts. Quantitative information from surveys, mixed with qualitative sentiment assortment from interviews and different interactions, affords compelling insights which are laborious to refute. Knowledge from different sources, similar to market analysis and competitor evaluation, needs to be utilized too. You need to have the ability to reply to buyer suggestions and adapt to altering wants; you are able to do this by incorporating a suggestions loop into the roadmap.
Set up a Determination-making Course of
With the intention to keep management of your product roadmap, create a strong course of for decision-making. For those who don’t have one already, develop a framework for gathering buyer information and evaluating this info. This course of and its outcomes needs to be clearly documented and communicated to all stakeholders, together with the senior determine. Refer again to this evaluation to counter any opinions that don’t align together with your evidence-based roadmap.
Put collectively a workforce with representatives from all related departments, together with product administration, engineering, advertising and marketing, and buyer assist. This workforce may have the authority to make collaborative choices based mostly on each information and subject material experience at sure factors within the roadmap (though you must take steps to make sure that having this workforce in place doesn’t decelerate your improvement course of). Ought to the HiPPO intervene, this constant analysis will make sure the product stays on observe.
Talk Usually With Stakeholders
Each stakeholder—together with the senior determine—is essential in making a profitable product, however it’s essential to make sure that there’s a clear understanding of the product roadmap and every particular person’s function in it throughout all departments.
Set up one system for protecting stakeholders knowledgeable of adjustments to the roadmap, and one other system for gathering, evaluating, responding to, and incorporating their suggestions. When everybody feels heard, you’ll encounter fewer points alongside the journey.
Foster Belief within the Product Staff
Belief might be a significant part in constructing constructive long-term relationships between the senior determine and the product workforce. Strengthen belief by celebrating evidence-based choices from workforce members that produce profitable outcomes. A technique that has labored effectively in my expertise is a month-to-month or quarterly award given to a person or group that tackled an issue having a detrimental impression on the product. This serves to exhibit the worth and experience of the workforce, which is able to afford larger autonomy from senior figures sooner or later. It additionally emphasizes the significance of data-driven decision-making.
Set Clear Expectations
Lastly, and maybe most significantly, previous to any roadmap discussions, develop a system in partnership with the senior determine and your product workforce to handle their involvement in decision-making. You need to enable all events to really feel heard whereas setting clear expectations for his or her roles and obligations. Everybody—together with senior figures—needs to be held accountable for his or her choices and enter and be anticipated to offer proof to assist them. Be sure you doc these processes formally and clearly for all workforce members. (This course of could even deter the senior determine from providing unfounded opinions.)
Meet with the senior determine in a one-on-one setting a day or two earlier than any giant displays, giving them a discussion board through which to precise their considerations and you a chance to deal with these previous to the assembly. An intimate atmosphere makes it simpler to have tougher discussions with out the added stress of an viewers.
Product Roadmaps Are Pushed by Knowledge, Not Expertise
The success of a product roadmap relies on being pushed by information reasonably than private expertise or instinct. The HiPPO can, due to this fact, have a big impression if their enter just isn’t dealt with effectively. Making use of the easy however efficient methods I’ve laid out right here can mitigate and stop harm to the roadmap, product, and workforce. Having clear roles and bounds in place, constructing belief, and making evidence-based choices are vital.
Sturdy, constant processes will assist you and your workforce confidently design and execute product roadmaps which are in step with buyer wants and market developments—and that can result in worthwhile merchandise. Suggestions from senior figures can undoubtedly be helpful, however in terms of the product and its roadmap, you and your workforce ought to have the insights that matter most.
