Post by Inayath Pasha
Product Owner | PSPO I Certified | Delivered 6+ Digital Products | Solutions Supporting 7,000+ Firefighters
A sales rep once told me: "The client won't sign unless we have custom badge printing." It sounded urgent. The feature request quickly became the loudest item in our Visitor Management System (VMS) backlog. Stakeholders were convinced it had to be delivered immediately. Before committing, I ran a Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) exercise across the entire backlog. The results were surprising: š¹ Custom Badge Branding ā WSJF Score: 1.7 š¹ GDPR-Compliant Data Purge ā WSJF Score: 16.0 At first glance, badge printing looked like the deal-maker. But after speaking with the customer, we discovered something far more important: ā ļø They had an ISO 27001 audit scheduled in just 8 weeks. Suddenly, the real problem became clear. A compliance gap could delay the audit, increase risk exposure, and potentially impact the entire partnership. So we prioritized the GDPR-compliant data purge first. ā Audit passed ā Compliance risk reduced ā Customer confidence increased ā Deal closed successfully The badge branding feature? It was delivered in Sprint 4. And interestingly... Nobody noticed the wait. This experience reinforced an important Product Owner lesson: The loudest request is not always the most valuable request. WSJF helps teams focus on what truly matters by evaluating: š¹ Business Value š¹ Time Criticality š¹ Risk Reduction / Opportunity Enablement ā Divided by Job Size When you prioritize this way, compliance, security, and risk-reduction features often create more business impact than cosmetic enhancements. Great product decisions aren't about building more features. They're about building the right features first. What's a feature your stakeholders constantly push for that data-driven prioritization would move down the backlog? š Share your experience in the comments. #ProductOwner #ProductManagement #WSJF #Agile #SAFe #BacklogPrioritization #VisitorManagement #VMS #ProductStrategy #ProductLeadership #Compliance #ISO27001 #GDPR #FacilityManagement #SaaS #AgileProductManagement #Prioritization #Leadership
