You are the only product manager for an HR software tool used by mid-sized companies. Customer success has sent you the twelve most-requested features. The top five by number of requests are:
You can deliver roughly three medium-sized items this quarter.
Decide which three to build and in what order. Explain your criteria, and say what you would tell the customers whose requests you are not doing.
100 points, 60% to pass.
Request counts are one signal, not the decision. Weigh revenue at risk (payroll export: three renewals next month — urgent, concrete), strategic fit (SSO unlocks the stated growth priority), and breadth of pain among important users (mobile leave approvals for managers at the largest accounts). Dark mode is cheap and popular but low value; it can ride along only if genuinely trivial. The custom report builder is large and loosely specified — worth discovery, not a build. Strong answers communicate honestly to those who lose out, with what would change the decision.