5 common mistakes in product planning (and how to avoid them)
Product planning is a complex process with lots of moving parts and mistakes are inevitable. To set you on the right track from the start, here’s a list of the most common mistakes and tips on how to steer clear of them.
1. Treating planning as a single event rather than an ongoing process
The mistake: treating planning as an event prioritizes the plan over planning. A plan is just a snapshot of your understanding—of the product, market, and customer needs—at the time the plan was created, which means it becomes obsolete very quickly.
How to avoid it: schedule regular strategic planning sessions and continuously collect user feedback to emphasize the process over the snapshot.
2. Planning too far into the future
The mistake: sometimes teams plan months or years into the future, assuming their users, the market, and their competitive landscape will be the same forever (which is never the case).
How to avoid it: stick to a timeframe in which you can reasonably take action and deliver value. Instead of planning major changes for the future, focus on small, iterative changes with product analytics tools like Contentsquare that enable you to test changes and collect feedback in tandem.
3. Planning in a silo
The mistake: some product teams don’t work closely alongside other business units. But because product planning requires a broad understanding of customers, the market, and competitors, it’s impossible to succeed in a silo.
How to avoid it: have team members and key stakeholders participate in product planning discussions to get their unique insights and help them feel more invested in your direction and outcomes.
4. Relying on too many assumptions
The mistake: basing product decisions on assumptions and guesswork is a waste of your team's and users' time. Without an understanding of why users are interacting with your product in a certain way, teams risk prioritizing issues that don't exist (and neglecting those that do).
How to avoid it: put effort into learning about customers and the market to gain data-informed insights. Tools like Contentsquare minimize roadblocks later down the line, ultimately helping you reduce assumptions and prevent those pesky pitfalls we discussed earlier.
5. Focusing more on outputs than outcomes
The mistake: many product teams focus their planning on delivering outputs (i.e. new features) instead of achieving outcomes. But features alone don’t drive success; what drives success is how features meet market needs and produce business outcomes.
How to avoid it: don’t introduce unnecessary features and bombard users with information and options—the best products are usually the simplest. Every new feature should be geared toward improving the product experience for the user, and producing real business outcomes like increased revenue, acquisition, and adoption.
Ready to dive in?
Product planning doesn’t have to be scary or intimidating. The more you understand the purpose and benefits of product planning—and how to avoid common pitfalls—the better equipped you’ll be. And with Contentsquare’s insights to guide your decisions, you can be absolutely certain that every update is in line with what your customers want.
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