Know when to kill products | WARC | The Feed

15 March 2021

Know when to kill products

Usually, less is more: fewer, stronger brands or products are better than lots according to a GitLab case study.

Why it matters

High-growth companies often concentrate on a smaller, better set of products, The Next Web reports, but to do this you need to learn to kill off some products.

Why now

TNW looks to developer platform GitLab’s decision to trim down its four subscription tiers. Like a lot of B2B subscription companies, many customers were stuck in the second-lowest tier, paid but missing most of the value-adding features that would help the client to stick around. By being clear with and accommodating existing customers it was able to do this without a significant jolt.

Questions to ask

More broadly, HBR research has identified how knowing when to pull the trigger and kill one’s darling is one of the most valuable abilities of a product development team.

• Does the product fulfil a specific need or is it a technology in search of a need?
• Is it useful to and useable by those outside a design team?
• Does it contribute to the company’s overall strategy? Is it likely to help bring about long-term value?
• Is it a cool idea or is it a product? That idea could be an opportunity, trend, tech breakthrough, or need, but a product needs to combine the above to be tangible.
• Does the product, which will likely take months if not years to develop, fulfil customers needs now or their needs when the product is actually released?

Sourced from The Next Web, Harvard Business Review