A Product Managers Guide to Saying Yes

As product managers, we often face requests for new features, enhancements, or changes from our users, internal teams, and stakeholders. These requests are valuable because they represent user engagement and provide insight into evolving needs. But when a feature request doesn’t align with our current roadmap, saying “no” outright isn’t always the best approach. Instead, we can say “yes” in a way that opens a collaborative process to build a business case—helping to create alignment and ensure decisions are data-driven and strategic.

Here’s how you can say “yes” to users by guiding your team to develop the business case for a feature, even when the answer might ultimately be “no.”

The Strategic Value of Asking the Right Questions

Before we dive into specific tactics, it’s worth asking: Why not just say “no”? The answer lies in the strategic advantage of curiosity. By asking probing questions, we gather valuable data that not only helps stakeholders understand the decision but often brings new insights to the product team.

Guiding your team to assess the impact of each request through targeted questions—focused on ROI, market opportunities, and customer value—does two things:

1. It provides a framework to evaluate ideas fairly and objectively.

2. It turns the conversation into a collaborative effort, aligning the team on strategic goals.

1. Ask About Business Impact: What Problem Are We Solving?

One of the first questions to ask when a request is made is, “What specific problem does this feature solve?” Encourage your team to dig deeper:

• Does this feature address a critical pain point for a significant portion of our users?

• How does this feature enhance the user experience or provide meaningful improvements?

Understanding the underlying problem can reveal if the feature has a broader business impact or if it’s a narrow enhancement that doesn’t align with the product’s core goals. Often, exploring these questions leads to alternatives that may solve the problem more effectively.

2. Consider the Return on Investment: What’s the Potential ROI?

For any new feature, it’s essential to weigh the expected benefit against the resources required to build, maintain, and support it. Some guiding questions include:

• What’s the expected increase in revenue, engagement, or retention if this feature is implemented?

• Will this feature attract new customers, increase user satisfaction, or drive upsells?

• How does the potential ROI of this feature compare to other projects in the pipeline?

Encourage your team to estimate ROI as specifically as possible. Sometimes, this exercise reveals that a request has less potential impact than originally thought, helping the team align on whether it’s a true priority.

3. Explore Sales Opportunities: Will This Help Us Break into New Markets or Deepen Current Market Reach?

Involving sales and marketing early on can shed light on a feature’s impact from a business development perspective. A feature that doesn’t directly impact current users might still have value if it helps open new market opportunities or strengthens the product’s positioning. Questions to consider include:

• Will this feature allow us to enter new markets or appeal to new customer segments?

• Can it be marketed as a unique selling point that differentiates our product from competitors?

• Will this feature increase sales in our existing market or attract key accounts we’re targeting?

By exploring these sales-related questions, your team can build a more complete picture of the feature’s potential.

4. Encourage Long-Term Thinking: How Does This Align with Our Product Vision and Roadmap?

Not all good ideas are good ideas now. A feature may seem valuable but might not be the best use of resources at this stage of the product’s development. Questions to assess long-term alignment include:

• Does this feature fit into the current product vision and strategic goals?

• Are there dependencies or foundational features we need to prioritize first?

• Could this feature disrupt the user experience or increase complexity?

This line of questioning enables your team to think strategically about timing and alignment, ensuring that the product roadmap reflects both immediate and long-term goals.

Turning "No" into a Strategic "Yes"

This approach has a powerful benefit: you’re saying “yes” to exploring and validating new ideas, even if the final answer is “no.” By collaborating with users and stakeholders to assess business impact, ROI, and market potential, you empower your team to make informed decisions. And perhaps most importantly, this process builds trust and transparency—users feel heard, and the team gains insights that can shape future product strategy.

In product management, saying “no” effectively doesn’t mean rejecting ideas; it’s about guiding them into a rigorous evaluation process. By asking the right questions, we can help our teams focus on the features that truly drive impact while cultivating a culture of strategic thinking and customer empathy.