Dec 30, 2020 | by Budi Tanrim
Feature requests are stupid business activity
When the company’s leadership doesn’t give a space for uncertainty, the team often gets a feature request.
As soon as the request was committed, it’s almost impossible to change them.
The problem with feature requests is that the team can’t pivot even if they found it does not solve customer problems. It happens because the leader already had the expectation the team will deliver that specific feature.
The team will focus on the output instead of the outcome. They will start to celebrate success when they deliver features instead of delivering value to the customer.
The feature request is stupid as a culture and as a business activity.
But why does the company’s leader fall into this mindset? That’s for another time.
The alternative is to set the objective, not hand down the solution. Leaders should be strategic, communicate the vision, define the strategic intent, and remember you don’t always right. Allow the team on the ground to explore and do some experimentation. Feature request is mostly a hypothesis. Don’t invest and execute it right away. You’re gambling.
Set the objective. Give space to discover unknown unknowns. Focus on the outcome, not the output.
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