Learning How To Say NO The Right Way

The Art of Prioritization: A Product Manager’s Quick Guide to Avoiding Overcommitment.

As we gradually advance in January, people seem to hardly remember what they agreed on last year. As a Product Manager, if you get carried away in this rush, you may end up overcommitting yourself to new projects that will wipe what you had planned and make the year very hard on you and your team.

Before saying “no”, it’s important to evaluate

“New year, fresh start” they say. That’s the atmosphere in some companies, trying to balancing budget, allocate resources, and re-evaluate projects. But it also means, other teams setting up new and ambitious goals, and initiatives to the company and product plans.

Now, it’s not about saying “no” to every colleague that comes around to present to you their new idea. But on the other hand, how to detect red flags and properly say to them “thanks, but I’ll pass.”

From my experience, you might want to start by understanding the business impact. For instance, if the initiative aligns with the company's goals and could potentially drive growth, it might be worth a closer look. A simple question you could ask yourself is: "How does this contribute to our customer happiness or bottom line?"

This question is a good start, because directly measuring the impact of customer experience on financial outcomes is challenging, requiring significant data, analytical skills to understand and leverage this data, and a robust infrastructure to underpin the strategy.

So next time your colleague runs to let you know her amazing project that will save the company, be sure to understand this first.

But let’s not stop there. I've found it valuable to consider the available resources as well. Even if an idea sounds amazing, you have to ask yourself, "Do we actually have the time, money, and personnel to make this happen?" Remember, a roadmap is a strategic plan that outlines the steps your team can realistically take to achieve product goals. Let's try to always be practical.

Another thing I've learned to do is evaluate the risks. Every initiative carries some risks, and it's vital to be aware of these upfront. You could even bring in some risk assessment tools like SWOT analysis or Risk Matrix. This would help you to understand if the proposed initiative can potentially put your product or company at jeopardy or even if it's a risk worth taking.

Saying “no” correctly to avoid overcommitment

Always start with the positives, this one tip works like a charm! When talking with the team proposing the initiative, praise the thought, effort and creativity they put in. I have seen how this will soften the blow, and shows respect for their efforts.

Next, communicate your reasoning clearly. Use data, insights and your strategic considerations to explain why you think the project might not be the right fit at this point.

Let's see an example:

Fred from Marketing scheduled a call with you a week ago. The appointment he sent says:
Meeting title: New idea for X goal
Meeting body: Hey! I got a new idea for a project that I believe it’ll worth to take a look. This could help us achieve X thing. Let’s discuss. 

At this point, you could tell this sounds he needs your confirmation on this topic, but he’s not sure if it will help the company somehow. Because you know Fred and have a good work relationship with him, you decide to continue with this.

At the meeting, he is very excited and tells you how doing X will improve Y. His idea comes from a good intention, but he never gave you numbers, he has not validated this with other departments, no research, no 

“I know if you and your team start working on this it will help us achieve our goals.” You begin to wonder, how does he knows that.

If you don’t want to brake Fred’s feelings or anyones, for instance, you could tell them, "We're currently pushing hard to get feature X out the door, which aligns with our primary goal of increasing user engagement. Given our current resources, we might not be able to accommodate this right now."

As a product manager, it's really about juggling priorities. It's better if you provide context about your other priorities: mainly the product, the users, and your team.

Hence, share the company’s product roadmap and discuss the commitments your team already has. It's a gentle way of letting them know that any additional projects would compromise your team's productivity and the quality of work they put out. Also, it could compromise the product itself and its users.

Oh, don't forget this critical step! Offer alternative suggestions. If you feel that the proposal has potential but the timing isn’t right, suggest parking it for reconsideration in the future. Even better, brainstorm for smaller, manageable ways their idea could be incorporated into your work.

And most importantly, friend, maintain empathy throughout the conversation. Recognize the passion and commitment that went into the proposed initiative. Always remember that your peers might feel a sense of ownership and attachment to their ideas, so treat them with the respect they deserve.

Here’s a list of NO statements that may help depending on the situation:

1. "I totally see the energy and focus you aim to bring with this idea. However, we currently have some commitments that require our attention right now.”

2. "Looking at the rough data, it might be a tough call to align this initiative with our planned roadmap. But don't let this dishearten you, data is there to guide us, not dissuade us."

3. "I can clearly see the hard work you've put into this proposal, and that's notable. Yet, there might be some factors we may need to re-visit before taking this forward."

4. "Your proposal brings a new perspective, refreshing even. But, if we consider an alternative approach, it might achieve the same results aligning more with our current strategies."

5. "Your initiative has great potential, no doubt! And it’s certainly worth revisiting perhaps a bit later when our resources are more flexible."

6. "The resources we have at hand are stretched a bit thin right now. We’d want to give your initiative the attention it deserves, should we decide to take it up."

7. "The initiative adds a spark, but we should be mindful of the additional risk factors. We wouldn’t want to potentially impact our ongoing projects.”

8. "I genuinely value your commitment and the creative spirit behind this idea. It's important we align our decisions keeping in mind the broader picture and the team's current situation."

Always remember to be empathetic, respectful, and understanding while providing a clear rationale for declining the proposed initiative.

Do you need more examples on how to respond? You can easily generate these in ChatGPT with a prompt like:

Imagine you are an empathetic Product Manager that needs to say no to new initiatives due to lack of time and resources. Generate a bullet list of these no statements like if you're telling them to someone in your company.

You can play changing the role of the person’s you need to respond to, the tone of the message, the things you are struggling with, and any other concern.

Wrapping Up

Just remember, there’s a reason behind these ideas. It's not about refusing outright but more of expressing that the initiative might not align well with the current product roadmap or resources of your team.

Saying "no" can be tough, but in the end, it’s about making sure that your product roadmap is effectively serving your user’s needs and the company's objectives. Believe me, your colleagues will appreciate your honest and clear communication in the end because you could be saving time for them.

Do you have any experiences or tips on this subject? Share them in the comments. You never know who might find your experiences helpful.