Stop building what your customers ask for

📰 Dev.to · Jonathan Murray

Learn why building what customers ask for can be a mistake and how to prioritize features effectively, to create a better product

intermediate Published 22 Apr 2026
Action Steps
  1. Attend industry conferences to understand customer needs and pain points
  2. Conduct customer interviews to gather feedback and validate assumptions
  3. Use techniques like jobs-to-be-done to prioritize features based on customer goals
  4. Apply the 80/20 rule to focus on high-impact features
  5. Test and iterate on your product with a minimum viable product (MVP) approach
Who Needs to Know This

Product managers and software engineers can benefit from understanding the importance of prioritizing features based on customer needs, rather than just building what they ask for, to create a successful product

Key Insight

💡 Building what customers ask for can lead to feature creep and a product that doesn't meet their underlying needs, prioritize based on customer goals and pain points

Share This
💡 Don't just build what customers ask for, prioritize features based on their needs #productmanagement #softwaredevelopment

Key Takeaways

Learn why building what customers ask for can be a mistake and how to prioritize features effectively, to create a better product

Full Article

I was at a conference this week. Bunch of stakeholders on stage. Hospital admins, big-name buyers, a...
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