6 July, 2025
As a new product manager or team member, you're probably overwhelmed by all the different ways to prioritize work. Here's why starting simple might be your best bet.
Picture this: You're new to product management or working with a team that's just getting started with structured prioritization. You've got a spreadsheet with 47 customer requests and 13 existing bugs to fix. You've spent hours organizing them into categories and estimating effort, and now you need to figure out which tasks to tackle first. But when you try to present this to your team using some prioritization framework you read about online, everyone's eyes glaze over before you even get to item number five.
Sound familiar?
The truth is, there are countless prioritization frameworks out there, and as new PMs, we often feel pressure to adopt the most sophisticated approach or the one that "successful companies" are using. But here's the thing: what works for one team might not work for yours. Some teams thrive on detailed scoring systems, while others prefer gut instinct. Some organizations are heavily influenced by senior stakeholders, while others give product teams more autonomy.
The challenge for new teams isn't finding the "best" prioritization method - it's finding the one that fits your team's culture and actually gets used.
If you're currently using a structured prioritization approach (or trying to), let's be honest: are you following it exactly as designed? When was the last time your team actually used that elaborate scoring system you spent weeks building? If you're like most new teams, you probably:
The problem isn't that these frameworks are wrong. It's that they're often too complex for teams that are still figuring out their rhythm and communication patterns. In the real world, where decisions need to be made quickly and explained clearly to stakeholders, simplicity often wins.
Here's a perspective that might help: What if the best prioritization system is the one your team will actually use consistently? Not the most sophisticated one. Not the one with the most metrics. Just the one that helps you make good decisions, communicate them clearly, and build confidence in your process.
The most effective prioritization systems for new teams focus on three key elements:
Instead of vague feature requests, focus on clear problem statements. Reframe descriptions like "We need a dark mode" as "Users struggle to use the app in low-light conditions...". See the difference? One is a solution, the other is a problem to solve. This approach helps new teams think more strategically about what they're building and why.
The prioritization of your most urgent issues should be tied directly back to customer feedback. Not just what customers say they want, but the problems they're actually experiencing. This is where many frameworks fall short - they focus on delivering the solutions your customers think they need, rather than on fixing the underlying problems. For new teams, this distinction is crucial for building credibility and making better product decisions.
Forget complex scoring systems that require extensive training. Here's how to get started with just two simple questions:
These two metrics give you everything you need to make informed prioritization decisions. Impact tells you the scope of the problem (is this affecting 5 customers or 500?), while severity tells you how critical it is to those affected (is this a minor annoyance or a complete blocker?). Together, they provide a reasonably quantitative way to compare different work items without getting lost in complex calculations. You can estimate impact by looking at your customer base size and feedback volume, and severity by understanding how the problem affects user workflows. This approach gives you enough detail to make good decisions while keeping the process simple enough that your team will actually use it consistently.
At Voyce, we've seen countless new teams transform their prioritization process by keeping it simple, instead of reaching for the latest new thing. Don't get us wrong - we believe that there can be value in frameworks like RICE, MoSCoW, Story Mapping, and Planning Poker - sometimes looking at your list of Things To Do through a different lens helps you see things from a different angle. But generally it's better to quickly adopt something simple that gives you consistent outcomes instead of vacillating over which more complicated system you should implement. Instead of spending hours debating scores, weights, how to calculate Reach and Impact (for example), focus on what matters:
The result? Teams that actually use their prioritization system instead of abandoning it when things get busy or complex.
We built Voyce around this simple truth: The best prioritization system is the one you and your team will use consistently. That's why our platform helps new teams to:
No complex formulas to learn. No endless debates about methodology. Just clear, actionable prioritization that your team will actually use and your stakeholders will understand.
If you're a new product manager or working with a team that's just getting started with structured prioritization, don't let complexity hold you back. There's real value in starting with something simple that you can actually implement and stick with.
If you're curious about Voyce's simple approach to prioritization, create a free account and take a look. You can unlock the full functionality of Voyce right now, with no credit card required, and no nasty upsells.
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