How to Manage a Product Backlog in a Fast-Growing B2B Startup

Product backlog is a key element in any product development process. One of the things that many product managers can agree on - the backlog is often never-ending. You’ll always have incoming requests - either from customers or from the market and competition.

In this article, I’d like to share my tips for working as a product manager in fast-growing startups. I’ll also explain how these tips could be used in B2B products.

Building a Backlog

The product backlog is an ordered list of what is needed to be improved in the product. Ideally, this list should be dynamic and change depending on company objectives and vision. Tips on how to fill the backlog meaningfully:

• Invest time in the discovery process — Understand Your Market and Customers:

  • Conduct regular market research and customer interviews to deeply understand their needs and pain points.

  • Use customer feedback, surveys, and analytics data to inform what goes into the backlog.

  • Read more about how to do a good product discovery: https://hackernoon.com/product-discovery-in-b2b-and-b2b2c-environments-a-guide-for-product-managers

• Incorporate the Opportunity Solution Trees framework to strategically explore different opportunities

  • What it is: A visual framework for product development that maps out opportunities (desired outcomes or problems to solve) and potential solutions. It begins with a desired outcome at the top, branches into opportunities, and further branches into solutions for those opportunities.

  • Application: the framework helps teams systematically explore multiple paths to a goal and prioritize opportunities. Decisions are made by evaluating which solution paths most effectively lead to the goal.

  • Read more: https://www.producttalk.org/2023/12/opportunity-solution-trees/

• Embrace Change and Stay Lean:

  • Recognize that in a fast-growing startup, change is the only constant. Your backlog should be a reflection of this dynamic nature, kept lean and highly adaptable. This flexibility and adaptability are strengths of smaller teams, and they help to adjust in response to market changes quickly.

• Align with Business Goals:

  • Ensure that the items in your backlog support the overall business objectives.

  • Regularly review and adjust the backlog to align with any changes in business strategy.

• Break Down Large Tasks:

  • Decompose larger, more complex backlog items into smaller, manageable tasks. This not only makes the backlog more navigable but also facilitates easier tracking and completion of tasks, as well as iterative delivery.

• Bonus: If your startup is sales-led, collaborate with Sales and Client Services:
  • It's crucial to maintain close communication with the sales and client services teams - they are your primary connection to prospects and customers. These teams offer invaluable insights into users’ needs and expectations. Integrating their feedback into your backlog ensures that you're addressing real market demands.

Prioritizing a Backlog

When you’re growing rapidly, prioritization is KEY. Use prioritization frameworks to assess and rank backlog items, and remember to always adjust it for your own case.

• RICE / ICE

  • Methodology: RICE scores projects or features based on four factors: Reach (how many people it affects), Impact (how much it will benefit them), Confidence (how sure you are about these estimates), and Effort (how many person-months it will take).

  • Application and Decision Making: Calculate the RICE or ICE (excludes Reach) score for each item and prioritize those with the highest scores. The higher the score, the more favorable the project is. It allows you to balance the expected impact against the required effort.

  • Adjusting framework for B2B: For B2B, 'Reach' may focus on key accounts rather than end-user numbers, or you can exclude it from the estimation and use the ICE score. 'Impact' could also weigh long-term client relationships, such as expansion opportunities.

  • B2B Startup Recommendation: Recommended, especially for assessing potential impact and prioritizing features. Requires careful adjustment in estimating Reach and Impact.

• Kano Model

  • Methodology: The Kano Model categorizes features based on how they affect customer satisfaction. Features are classified as Must-be, One-dimensional, Attractive, Indifferent, or Reverse.

  • Application and Decision Making: Understand which category each feature in the backlog falls into. Must-be features are essential, attractive features can significantly boost satisfaction, and so on. Decisions are made by balancing these categories to create a product that meets basic requirements while also delighting customers.

  • Adjusting framework for B2B: For example, Must-be features could include industry-specific compliance or security needs.

  • B2B Startup Recommendation: Useful for understanding customer satisfaction factors. Recommended for startups focusing on differentiating their product through unique value propositions.

• MoSCoW

  • Methodology: MoSCoW categorizes tasks or features into four groups: Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won't have.

  • Application and Decision Making: List all features or tasks and categorize them into four groups. Prioritise 'Must haves' as they are critical for the project's success. 'Should haves' and 'Could haves' follow in priority. 'Won't haves' are not considered in the current scope.

  • Adjusting framework for B2B: 'Must haves' might include features essential for client operations or compliance.

  • B2B Startup Recommendation: Recommended. It's straightforward and helps startups focus on essential features while managing limited resources.

• Value vs Effort

  • Methodology: This matrix plots tasks or features based on the value they provide against the effort required to build them. It helps in identifying high-impact, low-effort opportunities.

  • Application and Decision Making: Assign value and effort scores to each feature. Prioritize those in the high-value, low-effort quadrant, as they offer the most return for the least investment.

  • Adjusting framework for B2B: For B2B, value assessment should include factors like new deals or potential for customer expansions.

  • B2B Startup Recommendation: Recommended for its simplicity and effectiveness in identifying high-impact, feasible initiatives.

• Eisenhower matrix

  • Methodology: This matrix helps categorize tasks based on urgency and importance, with four quadrants: urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither urgent nor important.

  • Application and Decision Making: Tasks in the 'urgent and important' quadrant are prioritized. This method helps in focusing on what truly matters and avoiding tasks that may seem urgent but are not important in the long run.

  • Adjusting framework for B2B: In a B2B context, tasks that directly affect client satisfaction or are needed to unlock new deals would fall into the 'urgent and important' category.

  • B2B Startup Recommendation: Recommended, particularly for mapping high-level opportunities.

• Custom Prioritization:
  • Consider developing a custom prioritization method that aligns with your unique business model and market.

Tips:

• Allow Time for Technical Debt:

  • Always allocate time for handling tech debt, bug fixes, and incoming client requests.

  • Optimize processes through early tech discoveries and proofs of concept, but limit the effort required for them by time-boxing these activities to a specific duration, such as one day.

• Maintain a Balanced Focus:

  • Acknowledge that sometimes you won’t iterate, as other opportunities demonstrate higher potential impact, and that's okay.

  • While focusing on immediate priorities, don’t lose sight of long-term goals and strategic initiatives.

  • Again, occasionally include technical debt and infrastructure improvements in the backlog to ensure the long-term health of the product.

Acting on a Backlog

Aside from the discovery process, the product team also needs to implement practices to deliver a successful product delivery to the market.

• Ship Fast, Learn Fast: Prioritize rapid shipping to quickly gather feedback and iterate. This approach accelerates learning and product refinement.

• Embrace Small Iterations: Break tasks into small, manageable parts for flexibility and quick adaptation to feedback or market changes.

• Customize Your Process: Not all teams thrive with standard methodologies like sprints. Experiment and find a workflow that suits your team's unique dynamics.

• Set Realistic Deadlines: Always include a buffer in deadlines and roadmaps for customers, accommodating unforeseen challenges while maintaining quality.

• Encourage feedback and ideas from the team: They can provide valuable insights.

• Use data from released backlog items: These can inform future backlog prioritization.

Be a Product Manager, Not a Backlog Manager

As a product manager, your role extends far beyond just managing the backlog. It's crucial to avoid falling into the trap of being a "backlog manager," where the focus is narrowly placed on ticking off tasks.

True product management demands a strategic approach, encompassing market understanding, customer engagement, and aligning development with broader business goals.

It's about setting a vision for the product and ensuring that every task on the backlog not only resonates with customer needs but also contributes to the vision and drives the product forward in a meaningful way.

Editor: Tanya Kamenskaya

Design: Stas Yudin