Product Prioritization Frameworks: Shreyas Doshi's Approach to Building What Matters

Product prioritization is the discipline of deciding what to build next when you can't build everything.

Most teams use bad frameworks. They say: "Let's do what customers ask for." Result: You end up building a feature nobody needed and ignoring the features that matter.

Shreyas Doshi, VP of Product at Stripe and advisor to the most successful product teams, has spent years studying how the best teams prioritize.

I agree, however, the best prioritization framework isn't universally applicable. What works for a B2C marketplace is different from what works for enterprise B2B. Context matters.

Here's what Shreyas has learned: The best prioritization framework for your company is the one that reflects how you actually make decisions.

The Four Prioritization Frameworks

Shreyas has identified four frameworks that work:

Framework 1: Impact × Effort (RICE)

When to use: Early-stage startups, small product teams

Score each initiative on four factors:

• Reach: How many customers/users affected?
• Impact: How much does each get better? (3 = massive impact, 1 = minimal)
• Confidence: How confident are you? (0.5-1.0)
• Effort: How much time/resources to build?

Formula: (Reach × Impact × Confidence) / Effort

Higher score = higher priority

Advantages: Simple, transparent, easy to explain

Disadvantages: Hard to estimate numbers, doesn't account for strategic value

Framework 2: Jobs to Be Done (JTBD)

When to use: Customer-obsessed teams, product-led companies

Prioritize based on jobs customers are trying to accomplish and how well your product serves those jobs.

Steps:

1. Interview customers about their goals
2. Map features to customer jobs
3. Identify underserved jobs
4. Prioritize improving job satisfaction for important, underserved jobs

Advantages: Customer-focused, reveals true value

Disadvantages: Time-consuming, requires customer access, interpretation varies

Framework 3: Strategic Alignment

When to use: Growing companies with clear strategic goals

Score each initiative on how well it supports your company's strategic priorities:

Examples of strategic priorities:

• Expand into enterprise (need SAML, SSO, advanced security)
• Improve retention (need better onboarding, notifications)
• Reduce support costs (need better documentation, self-service)

Each initiative gets a score: How directly does it support one of these priorities?

Advantages: Ensures team alignment, prevents random feature building

Disadvantages: Strategic priorities can be vague, hard to compare across priorities

Framework 4: Opportunity Scoring

When to use: Data-driven teams, products with clear metrics

Score based on:

• Opportunity Size: How many customers have this problem?
• Problem Intensity: How much do they want it solved? (1-10 scale)
• Solution Satisfaction: How satisfied are they with current solutions? (1-10 scale)

Opportunity Score = Opportunity Size × (Problem Intensity - Solution Satisfaction)

Advantages: Data-driven, identifies genuine market gaps

Disadvantages: Requires good data, can miss strategic value

Which Framework to Choose?

Shreyas recommends matching framework to stage:

Early Stage (0-1M ARR):

• Use: Jobs to Be Done + Impact × Effort
• Why: Customer obsession + speed matter most

Growth Stage (1M-10M ARR):

• Use: Strategic Alignment + Opportunity Scoring
• Why: Need to balance customer needs with strategic goals

Scale Stage (10M+ ARR):

• Use: Strategic Alignment + ROI Analysis
• Why: Every decision has financial implications

Common Prioritization Mistakes

Mistake 1: Optimizing the Wrong Metric

You prioritize features that increase daily active users. But your metric that matters is retention, not DAU.

You optimize for the wrong thing, and your strategy fails.

Fix: Define success metrics first. Prioritize features that move those metrics.

Mistake 2: Ignoring Debt and Stability

You keep shipping features while your product becomes increasingly fragile.

Technical debt grows. Bugs multiply. Customers leave.

Based on my experience, allocate 20% of capacity to debt and stability. Don't negotiate on this.

Mistake 3: Not Including Your Team in Prioritization

You decide what's important without input from engineering, design, customer support.

They see things you don't. They'll fight your decisions because they weren't consulted.

Fix: Make prioritization collaborative. Include engineering, design, and support in the decision.

Mistake 4: Changing Priorities Too Frequently

You reprioritize every sprint based on new feedback.

Your team can't execute anything because targets keep moving.

Fix: Prioritize quarterly. Stick to it unless something fundamental changes.

How to Run Prioritization

Here's the process Shreyas recommends:

Monthly Intake (2 hours)

1. Gather ideas from all sources:
   • Customer requests
   • Team observations
   • Competitive analysis
   • Strategic opportunities
2. Write 1-2 paragraphs describing each idea
3. List key questions: Why does this matter? Who benefits? How will we know if it worked?

Quarterly Prioritization (4 hours)

1. Review all intake ideas
2. Score using your chosen framework
3. Discuss high-scoring ideas as a team:
   • Do we agree it matters?
   • Are we confident we can deliver?
   • What would success look like?
4. Decide: Build, Test, Explore, or Reject

Execution (Ongoing)

1. Communicate priorities clearly to team
2. Track progress against goals
3. Monthly, measure impact:
   • Did we move the metrics we expected?
   • What did we learn?

Quarterly Review (2 hours)

1. Look back at what you prioritized
2. Measure actual impact vs. expected impact
3. Learn for next quarter
4. Start again

Key Takeaways

There's no perfect prioritization framework. Pick one that matches your:

• Stage: Early stage needs speed, growth stage needs strategy
• Culture: Data-driven teams use scoring, customer-obsessed teams use JTBD
• Resources: Small teams use simple frameworks, large teams can handle complexity

Use your chosen framework consistently. Measure impact. Learn. Improve.

The best team isn't the one with the perfect framework. It's the one that ships impact regularly and learns from every decision.