About the author Kira Balabanova is an experienced Product Lead with over a decade’s worth of experience in B2C/B2B software development and successful market launches. She specializes in mobile app and website development in the fintech sector. Kira is currently the Lead Product Manager at Nebeus, a financial technology company empowering global digital nomads and marketplaces with seamless payments, crypto, and card solutions.

Fast-growing companies often push deadlines to shorten time to market. This urgency often forces product managers to prioritize delivery itself over product quality. This situation is known as the “delivery trap”, a term coined by author Erik Dietrich in his book Developer Hegemony: The Future of Labor.

Dietrich describes how software developers find themselves in situations where their performance is evaluated solely by their output, placing them in a delivery trap. However, this term extends beyond engineers to all product team members. Another term for such an organization is ‘feature factory.’ But how do you recognize if you are working in one?

According to John Cutler’s article, "12 Signs You're Working in a Feature Factory", relentless focus on features over outcomes and a lack of customer interaction are some of the indicators that can help you identify such organizations.

For product managers, being trapped in delivery means insufficient time to engage with customers and an ever-growing backlog of issues to fix. Other common symptoms include burnout and dissatisfaction with work. Having faced these challenges myself, here are tips that helped me escape the delivery trap.

Start with the Problem

No feature, no problem. When asked to implement a feature, always ask, “Which customer problem are we solving?” If the answer is unclear, simply don’t proceed. Understanding the problem ensures the team’s efforts are directed toward meaningful work, which helps to avoid unnecessary features that add no value and ensuring the product meets real customer needs.

To understand the customer pain points and requirements, make it a point to engage with them directly. That way, you can gain invaluable insights that will inform the entire development process and ensure the team solves the right problems.

Encourage Problem-Focused Discussions

No one should come to the product team with solutions; they should come with problems. The product manager identifies problems and seeks solutions, not the delivery manager. This approach will ensure the team focuses on real issues rather than perceived needs, making solutions more effective leading to more effective and innovative solutions.

Encouraging problem-focused discussions fosters a culture of collaboration and creativity within the team. It allows team members to contribute their perspectives and expertise, resulting in more well-rounded solutions. It also helps prioritize work based on the severity and impact of identified problems, ensuring the most critical issues are addressed first.

Define Success Criteria

Once the problem and solution are found, you should carefully consider success criteria, which help in measuring the impact of the solution and provide a clear goal for the team to strive towards. Without clear criteria, it’s difficult to assess the effectiveness of the work.

Defining success criteria means setting measurable goals that align with the overall objectives of the product and the organization. For example, “Maintain a monthly user retention rate of at least 30% during the first three months” or “Reduce support calls by 50% in the quarter following launch.” These criteria should be specific, achievable, and relevant to the problem. Clear metrics allow the team to track progress and make data-driven decisions to refine the product.

Integrate Design Early

Design should be integral to the product from the start, so involve design early alongside problem identification and success criteria. A well-thought-out design process ensures the product is user-friendly and effectively meets customer needs.

Early integration of design is key for continuous feedback and iteration, which leads to a more refined product. It prioritizes usability and user experience from the outset, reducing the need for extensive revisions later. Involving designers early helps align the visual and functional aspects of the product, which helps create a cohesive and intuitive user experience.

Test on Prototypes

Test on prototypes rather than MVPs. Show your prototype to several customers and make sure what you’ve built makes sense before the team begins coding. Prototyping allows for early feedback and iteration, saving time and resources by addressing issues before they reach the development stage. It ensures that the product direction is validated by actual users.

Prototypes provide a tangible representation of the product concept, enabling customers to interact with it and provide meaningful feedback. This feedback can uncover potential usability issues, gaps in functionality, and areas for improvement. By iterating on the prototype based on this feedback, the team can refine the product concept and ensure that it meets customer expectations before committing to full-scale development.

Deploy an MVP

If the prototype makes sense, start deploying an MVP. The MVP should be a minimal version of the product that solves the core problem and allows for real-world testing and feedback to enable further refinement and improvement. This step ensures that the product is on the right track and meets customer needs effectively.

Deploying an MVP allows the team to test the product in a real-world environment and gather valuable data on its performance and user reception. It provides an opportunity to validate assumptions, identify unforeseen issues, and make necessary adjustments. The team can build a strong foundation for future iterations and enhancements by focusing on delivering a functional and valuable MVP.

Conclusion

Solving real customer problems and not just delivering features - this is what’s required to escape the delivery trap. As a product manager, you can ensure your team is productive and satisfied by relying on these tips:

Start with the problem
Encourage problem-focused discussions
Define success criteria
Prioritize early design integration
Test prototypes
Deploy an MVP.

Six Tips to Escape the Delivery Trap