by Saeed Khan
Every day, it seems, I see another blog post or article on product development that tells people to say “No” to feature requests.
Don’t believe me? Just do a web search on Say No to feature requests, or something similar, and you’ll see what I mean.
This advice to say “No” started, I’m certain, with this quote from who else but Steve Jobs.
“Innovation is not about saying yes to everything. It’s about saying NO to all but the most crucial features.”
Jobs said this to a group of people from the music industry, who, when showed a preview of the iTunes Music Store, started asking about potential feature enhancements. “Will it do [this]?”, “Will it do [that]?” etc.
This line, like the famous Ford faster horses line that Jobs also spoke about, is definitely a truism, but doesn’t constitute a hard and fast rule, dictating to people that they must say “No” to feature requests.
In the Jobs’ quote, he was simply explaining what he (rightly) believed about the innovation process.
“Why” is better than “No”
Instead of simply saying “No”, people need to ask “Why?” and try to truly understand the reasons behind the request.
The people making the request should have a clear reason (in their mind) of why they’re making the request, and it is incumbent on you to find out.
Feature requests are pre-conceived solutions to problems. Asking “Why?” (as many times as needed and in as many different ways as needed) will get to the heart of the problem.
And only then should a Yes/No decision be made.
And even with a “No” decision, it can be “No, right now we have other priorities, but we’ll definitely consider it in the near future.” response. i.e. “No” is not always an absolute “No”
The more you understand “Why”, the more context you gain over time at underlying patterns. Different feature requests may simply be different perceived solutions to the same problem.
You’ll never realize this without asking “Why?”
So while I agree that we should say No to non-crucial items, you’ll never know what is and isn’t crucial unless you understand why.
Saeed
Tweet this: Stop saying “No” and Start asking “Why” http://wp.me/pXBON-4cJ #prodmgmt #innovation
About the Author
Saeed Khan is a founder and Managing Editor of On Product Management, and has worked for the last 20 years in high-technology companies building and managing market leading products. He also speaks regularly at events on the topic of product management and product leadership. You can contact him via Twitter @saeedwkhan or via the Contact Us page on this blog.
Paul Yokota (@p_yokota)
Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” http://t.co/Ph71ov7IUh
Samir
Great one. If only PM was as simple as just saying No to anything that isn’t core … it’s really about the balance of rich and incredibly useful functionality while maintaining drop-dead simplicity — and your advice on asking ‘why’ is a great suggestion in this direction.
@TomSieron
RT @onpm: Stop saying “No” and Start asking “Why” http://t.co/IVV0sBDu1R #prodmgmt #innovation
rcauvin
Dead on. While product strategists must safeguard the focus and value proposition for the product, reflexively saying “no” is the wrong way to go about it. “Why” is a better start, both from a relationship perspective and from a market understanding perspective. I wrote about it in 2005, particularly how to know when to stop asking “why”.
@ykovtanyuk
RT @onpm: Stop saying “No” and Start asking “Why” http://t.co/IVV0sBDu1R #prodmgmt #innovation
Kyle Richey (@iMakeStrides)
Stop saying “No” and Start asking “Why” http://t.co/ihEwRMqle1 #prodmgmt #innovation http://t.co/SNMT7vHb4j
Erick Bradley (@erickbradley)
Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” | On Product Management http://t.co/w4Dkup2bmm
@torgerson
Why is always on the path to the answer. Yes or no. -“Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” | On Product Management http://t.co/YHaZwpj6pw
@shaushkin
“Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” http://t.co/Wa2eTkDZk2
garryts (@garryts)
Asking “Why” is better than saying “Yes” or “No” http://t.co/3cAO7rsJZl
@PCampAtlantic
RT @onpm: Stop saying “No” and Start asking “Why” http://t.co/IVV0sBDu1R #prodmgmt #innovation
Matt Saunders (@mattsdesk)
Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” http://t.co/eyG43ytjAI #prodmgmt
Stop saying “No” and start asking &...
[…] Every day, it seems, I see another blog post or article on product development that tells people to say “No” to feature requests.Don’t believe me? Just do a web search on Say No to feature requests, or something similar, and you’ll see what I mean.This advice to say “No” started, I’m certain, with this quote from who else but Steve Jobs. […]
@OlafKowalik
Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” http://t.co/SJyQb52LhI via @onpm #prodmgmt
@CRobinson_IBM
RT @sjohnson717: Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” http://t.co/Rv9zy1D0Lm via @onpm
@JessHallway
Great read from @saeedwkhan on asking why instead of saying no http://t.co/AowH38uOn5 #innovation http://t.co/hlwq1q8vPV
Mike Brown
I completely agree. I rarely say ‘no’….I often say ‘not now’.
‘No’ tends to completely discount an idea where, ‘not now’ takes into consideration the ‘why’.
Daniel D (@daddel)
Stop saying “No” and Start asking “Why” http://t.co/ChYyMKgkKp #prodmgmt #innovation
Craig J Willis
There’s asking ‘why’ and there’s understanding the request. I used to recommend the 5 why’s to help the team trace the problem back to the root cause. This works but it still requires some skill to do it well. Another approach we take is to use a flowchart representation of the main flows through the product. We use this as a discussion point for the request and we can ask how does it fit in the flow, what’s the impact it will have, does it improve or hinder the user from achieving their goals? We created our own tool for doing this as we needed something that was fast enough that it didn’t hinder the conversation. You can take a look here http://the-skore.com
@ssacard
@__tosh @vladpetre88 http://t.co/6QPCq0Ckda
Ashish Gurung (@AshishGurung)
Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” | On Product Management http://t.co/H7MD0IixFe
@viktordite
RT @daddel: Stop saying “No” and Start asking “Why” http://t.co/ChYyMKgkKp #prodmgmt #innovation
Ferry Hötzel (@ferryhotzel)
Stop saying “No” and Start asking “Why” http://t.co/MWXC8kbCeZ #prodmgmt #innovation http://t.co/g8VCK0kaPh
@danforthmedia
Absolutely! Often “Why” makes “No” self-evident w/o u having to say. –> “Stop saying ‘No’ and start asking ‘Why'”- http://t.co/mslBvGL0wL
@gywilliams
Great advice: stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” http://t.co/eKRviglQHL
@IjeomaEchianu
Absolutely! RT @p_yokota: Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” http://t.co/m79kydkRNC
Matt Anderson (@MattAndersonUT)
Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” by @saeedwkhan http://t.co/SRlPvyU2B2 via @AshishGurung + @shardulmehta #prodmgmt
@iAmSosnowski
Stop saying “No” and Start asking “Why” http://t.co/Yi9BiwwKFZ #prodmgmt #innovation
@_b2d
RT @onpm: Stop saying “No” and Start asking “Why” http://t.co/IVV0sBDu1R #prodmgmt #innovation
@geoffrobles
Stop saying “No” and Start asking “Why” http://t.co/KZ56RoN73A #prodmgmt #innovation
@DCampus
“@SBLeaders: Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” http://t.co/27VP8gNCRC”
@robertvl
Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” | On Product Management http://t.co/snw7woctqs #baot
@taigaio
Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” – http://t.co/CzwhF6kddV
@kmaanoja
Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” http://t.co/p9h1Yo2ypR via @onpm
Craig Zingerline (@craigzingerline)
Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” http://t.co/jwBkHSodPt
microTOOL GmbH (@microTOOL)
Guter Rat – auch für Requirements Engineers & Business Analytiker: Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” http://t.co/Juz62PIxfu via @onpm
@dasijoe
RT @onpm: Stop saying “No” and Start asking “Why” http://t.co/IVV0sBDu1R #prodmgmt #innovation
@dskaletsky
RT @rcauvin: Dead on point by @saeedwkhan that #prodmgmt should ask “why” instead of reflexively saying “no”: http://t.co/t5Tr5iabrH via @o…
@ralphytown
RT @rcauvin: Dead on point by @saeedwkhan that #prodmgmt should ask “why” instead of reflexively saying “no”: http://t.co/t5Tr5iabrH via @o…
@jonhassell
RT @rcauvin: Good point by @saeedwkhan that #prodmgmt should ask “why” instead of reflexively saying “no”: http://t.co/Py9KvLdmYf via @onpm
@timothy_buckley
Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” #marketing #product management http://t.co/Kxxoy9ZFGH
product anonymous (@product_anon)
RT @rcauvin: Dead on point by @saeedwkhan that #prodmgmt should ask “why” instead of reflexively saying “no”: http://t.co/iiQ2QQrQoD via…
Nalpeiron (@nalpeiron)
Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” http://t.co/wCVVkbalrW
@MAttarECM
Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why” – http://t.co/5s8XZDWWr6
@SolutionsIQ
Stop saying “No” and start asking “Why”–then you can say no, if it makes sense. http://t.co/BQYc7FXdcd via @onpm