Behold…
the priority spade

If you’ve got a digital product, then unless something has gone very wrong, you’ve also got a bunch of potential features you haven’t built yet. Likely, you’ve got a long list of things you *could* do and directions your product could go in. The challenge is working out where to go next: building a prioritised backlog that forms your product roadmap.

To avoid getting stuck in a feature spiral, we created a practical, balanced product prioritisation framework we call The Priority Spade™️.

It’s simple, visual, and helps teams make product decisions with confidence.

Why a spade?

What’s that got to do with a product backlog?!

Fair point. It’s not a literal spade, but the shape fits, and let’s be honest, the “Priority intersection of Venn diagram” doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.

The idea is this: when considering any potential feature, you’re often weighing it up from three main perspectives. The spade is our method for balancing those viewpoints and making sense of what to prioritise. It’s a product prioritisation framework that combines qualitative and quantitative input to support better decisions.

Let’s break it down.

Customers 🗣 Qualitative Data

You’ve heard us say it before: design for actual people. The voice of your customer should be front and centre. A big part of any effective product prioritisation technique is figuring out what users genuinely want, not just what they say they want.

The best way to understand this is to ask the right questions. But it’s crucial to avoid leading or biased questions that get you superficial answers. Instead of asking for feature ideas, explore the problems they experience. For example:

• What issues come up again and again?
• What frustrates them the most?
• What have they tried in the past to solve these problems?

For more on asking the right questions despite everyone lying to you, we highly recommend The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick.

Once you start collecting feedback, you can quantify it. Count how often specific problems or themes are mentioned. You’ll start to get a clearer sense of what’s most important to users, an essential input for your product prioritisation framework.

Stakeholders 🤝 Qualitative Data

Your internal team has valuable insight too. Customer-facing colleagues can validate what you’ve heard from users. Are sales and support teams echoing the same problems? Or are they hearing something different?

Blog post

Lightbulb moments, magic beans and other innovation myths - how to (actually) generate ideas

Harness the power of your customer facing staff for the best product and feature ideas.

Read more

Product managers, engineering leads, and business stakeholders also have input about the long-term vision, technical complexity, and commercial value of different features. Any sound UX method for prioritising features should include their voice.

Of course, not all opinions are equal, and it’s easy to over-weight the loudest voice in the room. But your product prioritisation framework should ensure no single group dominates. You want a balanced approach that combines customer needs with business goals and technical feasibility.

Blog post

Is your boss (accidentally) killing your best product ideas? How to handle your hippo

Ideas grounded in customer insight and observable problems are always the most powerful.

Read more

Analytics 📊 Quantitative Data

The third angle is data. Data is not just about validating assumptions. It should help identify friction points and uncover blind spots.

Analytics give you the numbers behind the narrative. Here’s where the right product prioritisation techniques shine:

• Google Analytics shows which pages or sections users engage with most.
• User flow tools like Mixpanel help reveal drop-off points and conversion paths.
• Heatmaps (via Hotjar, for example) can show where people are clicking—or not.
• Internal database analysis shows how often key features are actually used.

This helps confirm or challenge qualitative insights. If your users say they’re struggling with something, the numbers should back that up. If not, it’s worth digging deeper before acting.

Where the three overlap

When you find a feature idea supported by customer feedback, stakeholder input, and data, you’ve got yourself a spade.

That’s the point where everything aligns. The problems are real. The opportunity makes business sense. The data backs it up. That’s when it’s time to start digging.

The spade isn’t about replacing judgment. It’s about supporting better decisions. It gives your team a simple visual to navigate complexity and bias. It’s a product prioritisation framework that keeps you grounded when pressure builds to do everything at once.

What about features that don’t align?

Not every feature will hit all three corners. Some might score highly on analytics and business value, but users haven’t complained. Others might be pain points for users, but come with a technical price tag you can’t justify right now.

That’s where scoring models and refinement come in. This shouldn’t be treated as a static model. It should be a working method that adapts as your understanding grows.

Adding in effort and technical constraints

One way to evolve the Priority Spade into a more robust product prioritisation technique is to factor in effort and feasibility. You can layer on scoring dimensions like:

• Complexity: How long will it take to build?
• Dependencies: Are there blockers or pre-requisites?
• Maintenance impact: Will this add to your tech debt?

Having your tech leads involved in early discovery sessions is crucial. You’ll avoid wasted time spec’ing features that are dead on arrival because they’re too complex or don’t scale.

This is also where a good ux method—like involving developers in early design ideation—can save you rework later.

Building the habit of prioritisation

Great prioritisation isn’t a one-off process. It’s a habit. The best teams treat it as part of their weekly or sprint rhythms. That might look like:

• Regular design reviews with product, design, and engineering leads
• Discovery meetings to surface new opportunities and validate assumptions
• Technical huddles to flag roadblocks and plan for scale
• Cross-functional refinement sessions where features get scored and queued

This structure creates clarity and consistency. Everyone knows what’s coming, why it matters, and how it was prioritised.

Over time, this kind of alignment sharpens your product team structure. People feel less reactive and more empowered. You avoid costly surprises. And your team gets better at working together across functions.

What it looks like in practice

We’ve seen teams take this framework and make it their own. Some run weekly rituals. Others plug the spade into OKR reviews or quarterly planning. The core principle remains: balance customer needs, stakeholder vision, and real data.

It’s not always perfect. Sometimes there’s a tough trade-off. But having a shared language helps make the conversation more objective. And that’s where good product decisions start.

The Priority Spade isn’t the only tool in your toolbox. But it’s a simple, effective product prioritisation framework that brings structure to messy conversations and helps everyone see what matters most.

A product prioritization framework is only as strong as the research behind it.

If you need support shaping your roadmap with real user insight, we’re here to help. Let’s talk.