Product development is a complex process that requires teams to balance multiple competing priorities. One of the most important decisions you must make is which features to build next. To help make these decisions, I've developed a prioritization method called GQERR.
GQERR (pronounced "geeker") will help you to "geek out" on building the best product possible, by making sure you are focusing on the right things and maximizing the impact of everything you do.
GQERR stands for Growth, Quality, Engagement, Retention, and Revenue. These five metrics are critical for measuring the success of a product and should be considered when deciding on which features to build next.
- Growth: A feature's ability to attract more users.
- Quality: A feature's ability to enhance the user experience and improve the overall quality of what was already shipped.
- Engagement: A feature's ability to stimulate users to stay longer when they visit.
- Retention: A feature's ability to trigger users to visit more frequently.
- Revenue: A feature's ability to increase revenue.
By considering these five metrics, you can make data-driven decisions about which features to build next and prioritize the development of features that drive the maximum impact. To further aid the decision-making process, you can assign a weighted score to each metric using this formula:
Weighted Score = (Growth * Wg) + (Quality * Wq) + (Engagement * We) + (Retention * Wr) + (Revenue * Wp)
Where:
- Growth, Quality, Engagement, Retention, and Revenue are the metrics you want to measure, and the values for each metric should be assigned a score between 1 and 5 based on the specific feature you are evaluating.
- Wg, Wq, We, Wr, and Wp are the weighting factors for each metric. These factors will vary depending on the priorities of your team and the specific goals of your product. For example, if revenue is a primary concern, you may assign a higher weighting factor to the Revenue metric.
It's important to note that you can use different numbers to weigh each variable and change these over time depending on your objectives and metrics.
Example 1 — Focusses on monetizing current features-set
( Growth * 5 )+( Quality * 8 )+( Engagement * 5 )+( Retention * 7 )+( Revenue * 10 )
Example 2 — Geared more toward growth
( Growth * 9 )+( Quality * 4 )+( Engagement * 3 )+( Retention * 8 )+( Revenue * 6 )
In conclusion, GQERR is designed as a tool for product development teams to prioritize their feature backlog and make data-driven decisions. By considering the five key metrics of Growth, Quality, Engagement, Retention, and Revenue, you can evaluate a feature's impact on key metrics that drive success. And by using the weight score formula, the generated score can be adjusted dynamically to account for (real-time) data and objectives.
Using GQERR to make features better
In order to benefit fully from GQERR prioritization, it is important to use the process of evaluating features to cover multiple dimensions and maximize the impact on all five metrics.
For example, when evaluating a feature for its potential impact on growth, you should not only consider the number of new users it may attract but also ask yourself if there's a potential for it to generate increased engagement and retention — if necessary, by slightly adjusting the specific feature.
Similarly, when evaluating a feature for its potential impact on revenue, you should consider not only the direct revenue generated but also the potential for increased engagement and retention that may lead to increased lifetime value of those users.
In addition to the standard GQERR formula, teams can also enhance their prioritization process by incorporating data and feedback gathered from users. For example, by surveying users to gather feedback on the features they find most valuable, teams can assign a higher weight score to those features when calculating the GQERR score.
Example 3 — Includes customer feedback
Weighted Score = (Growth * Wg) + (Quality * Wq) + (Engagement * We) + (Retention * Wr) + (Revenue * Wp) + (User Feedback * Wf)
For those interested in taking it even further, you could gather data on how often and how long users are engaging with a particular feature, and use that data to adjust the weight scores for engagement and retention. Incorporating user feedback and data in this way can provide a more accurate and holistic view of the potential impact of each feature on the product's overall success.
Lastly, it is important to regularly re-evaluate your priorities and the weighting factors for each metric, as the needs and goals of the product may change over time. This will ensure that the you're always focused on building the most impactful features for the current stage of the product.
Integrating GQERR within your workflow
Implementing GQERR doesn't need to take a lot of time, but it requires a solid foundation to quickly rank features and calculate them according to the weight scores.
There are a variety of tools available, such as Foxly for Jira, which allow you to easily rank, calculate, and prioritize features according to the GQERR (or other) formula. These tools will save time and provide visualizations to efficiently prioritize the backlog.
If you have any questions about how to implement GQERR or how to use tools like Foxly for Jira to efficiently prioritize your feature backlog, please don't hesitate to reach out! You can contact me via Twitter below.
