The Turing test of product prioritization is [data x trust]

Most common answer from a PM: “Can you bring me more data to support your request?”

Here’s some hidden news: ~ 50% of all PM decisions are not data driven (if not more). This includes micro-decisions (too small to get data), sprint fillers (let’s optimize WIP, no need for data), blind prios (trust me, I know it will work), HIPPO decision (CEO said so), debt payments (we prioritized your thing last time, now it’s mine), etc.

I want to highlight the blind prios, aka “I trust you, if you say this is it, let’s do it”. I could argue it’s the majority of cases in blind-data decisions. And it happens because there is trust, whether due to expertise, having worked out well in the past, or enough virtue signaling that you can roll with it (including when you’re trusting yourself to decide).

So if this is true, product decisions come from the function of [data x trust], where more trust multiples the available data into surpassing the threshold of “let’s do it”.

And now let me help you, dear stakeholder: if you want to get your way with PMs, build an environment of trust. We are not your enemies just because we say “No” a lot and push you to bring more data, we just need to trust you more.