How Savvy Product Leaders Handle 5 Common Stakeholder Asks Without Betting on Hope

Plus, my go-to response for any stakeholder ask.

Stakeholder pressure is at the root of many false promises based on hope.

• Promises to deliver all ideas by a date.
• Promises to stay in budget and have a windfall return on investment.
• Promises to do more, do it faster, and do it all now.

Why are these promises empty?

They are made based on the faulty premise of “we know” rather than “we don’t know.” And they also assume the fiction of infinite capacity. These are both bad assumptions in the uncertain, complex world of product development.

Hope is not a strategy with product.

Promises made with no evidence produce an unhealthy team environment.

• Death marches to unrealistic deadlines.
• Unsustainable feats of bravery, scrambling to meet unreachable commitments.
• Pressure to meet expectations that have no proof grounded in reality.
• Loss of purpose due to the uninspiring pursuit of output determined without team input.

No great team or product can emerge from such toxicity.

Fortunately, this pattern of empty promises can be broken.

I have seen some product managers crack the code. They become product leaders in the face of stakeholder pressure.

Below, I have collected 5 common stakeholder asks and 5 ways these savvy leaders handle them. And we will end with my bonus go-to response that works wonders for any stakeholder ask.

Let’s dive in.

This year, I’ve committed my focus to a concept called Lean Leverage, as described in my inaugural 2024 post. Each article I craft this year, including this one (the 10th in the series), will focus on an aspect of Lean Leverage. Enjoy and stay tuned for many ways to do more with less.

How to handle 5 common stakeholder asks without betting on hope.

There are several realities for product development.

• Time is a limited resource, and so is team throughput.
• You don’t know upfront what solutions solve user needs.
• You don’t know upfront the hidden problems in your path.
• You don’t know upfront how long it will take to achieve desired outcomes.
• You don’t know if the outcomes, when achieved, will realize the desired business impacts.

Uncertainty? Check. Complexity? Check.

These truths are crucial mindset shifts for navigating the pressure of stakeholder asks.

Now, let’s apply this reality to 5 common stakeholder asks before we get to my go-to stakeholder response.

Ask 1: “When will it be done?”

This is the dreaded question.

And it is the one product managers often answer confidently with no supporting evidence. Even worse, stakeholders promise delivery to customers without even asking. And these deadlines are usually set upfront when learning has not started.

This is not an act of prediction; it is an act of pleasing.

Let’s walk through a common scenario: the traditional annual planning process.

1. You need to achieve goals for the business next year.
2. You need to know how you will do that.
3. You devise ideas and plans to realize the goals (a year in advance).
4. You set milestone dates (deadlines) for incremental progress to your goals (as if you could predict the future).

Does this process embrace complexity and uncertainty?

No way. Learning is absent.

And deadlines are fed into this process with reckless abandon. It’s as if the act of yearly planning somehow causes the uncertainty to vanish. Delivery dates get locked in and the wicked cycle begins.

This behavior is not isolated to yearly planning. It happens any time we are trying to predict the future before taking the first step.

We need a better way to answer the question, “When will it be done?”

So, here is how the savvy product leader responds:

“I don’t know. But if we can start with a small experiment, I will know more. And I will continue to know more about duration as we continue to take small steps and learn from them.”

Savvy leaders ask for a chance to start and gain knowledge.

They don’t set deadlines upfront with no knowledge.

Ask 2: “How much will it cost and what will be my return?”

Only a soothsayer can foretell the product cost and return on investment upfront.

Yet, many product managers scramble to answer this early amid complete ignorance. Their lack of knowledge is no barrier. They detail out cost estimates and dream up blockbuster returns. The problem: where are the customer insights?

A crystal ball can’t replace evidence born through customer interaction and experimentation.

As with ask 1, let’s use our yearly planning scenario to see how this usually plays out.

1. You are trying to get your budget approved for next year.
2. To justify your spend, you must estimate the effort to produce solutions that meet your goals.
3. The effort needs to pay off, so you must assess the return on your spend.
4. You bring out your crystal ball.
5. From thin air, you build detailed plans, estimates, and return on investment calculations.

And before you know it, you have made promises to stakeholders not based in reality.

You end up securing your future, but you sell your soul.

We need a better way to navigate the cost and return on investment uncertainty.

So, here is how the savvy product leader responds to the question: “How much will it cost and what is my return?”

“I don’t know. But if we can get in front of the end customer, I will know more. Through early and ongoing customer engagement, I can figure out what they need. And then, we can arrive at a useful solution with less effort. Our quickest path to user delight is a useful solution being used. And our only path to business impact is a delighted customer.”

Savvy leaders harvest value early at low cost. They do this by involving customers and evolving the right solution in small steps.

They don’t try to be fortune-tellers.

Ask 3: “Can you fit in these extra bells and whistles before you release?”

Product teams have a poor track record of producing more than is needed.

The yearly Standish Group Chaos Report consistently backs this up. They report between 65% and 75% of all software features delivered are rarely or never used^1. This is a staggering number. We can do better.

Adding extra features with no user need is like making a beautiful sound in a forest, but nobody is around to hear it.

Here are some examples of overproduction traps product managers fall into with stakeholders:

1. Creating a flashy design mock-up for our product to get it approved.
2. Ensuring all stakeholders get their ideas accounted for in the product.
3. Solving every ask, even if it is a rare occurrence.
4. Stretching to add more before validating a user needs it.

Overproduction sneaks up on you. Before you know it, you are spending far too much money and time building features no user needs.

We need a better way to respond when stakeholders ask, “Can you fit in these extra bells and whistles before your release?”

So, here is how the savvy product leader responds to stakeholder visions of grandeur.

“Not yet. We need to start simple and evolve from there based on customer needs. The best way we can spend your money is to start with the essential and emerge useful solutions with our end user. Not only does this cost you less, it also delivers you maximum business impact for every dollar you spend.”

Savvy leaders start with the essential and evolve only if useful to the end user.

The best ideas your stakeholders have may not be what your users need in the timeframe they need it.

Ask 4: “Can you do it faster and cheaper?”

It’s rare (near impossible) for products to arrive early with less effort and budget.

Yet, many product managers promise to deliver faster and cheaper, setting unrealistic constraints.

Here is the basic order of events:

1. Stakeholders see large looming timelines, effort, and cost.
2. Stakeholders ask for it to be faster and cheaper.
3. Deadlines to motivate urgency get set.
4. Corners get cut (usually on internal product quality, not external features).

The result: teams find themselves on an uninspiring factory line.

Their anti-purpose: produce greater and greater half-baked output with no customer connection.

We need to solve the stakeholder desire for faster and cheaper without creating disengaged, burned-out teams.

So, here is how the savvy product leader responds to the stakeholder ask, “Can you do it faster and cheaper?”

”We can do three things to help with that. 1) We can do the most impactful things for our customers first. 2) We can learn from each step we take to iterate to the simplest, useful solution. 3) we can continuously improve how we do these things to streamline our approach.”

Savvy leaders find a way to maximize impact with each step and improve how they take each step..

In product, there is always more to build than your available time, people, or budget.

Don’t promise the impossible.

Ask 5: “Have you started my work?”

Having started brings solace to stakeholders, but it often leads to delays.

Why?

Because many jump to start every stakeholder request at once to show progress. We figure: the more we start, the more we can show progress when a stakeholder asks. And finishing everything gets delayed due to context switching and hidden problems.

Here is how the scenario plays out.

1. The team starts working on one stakeholder request.
2. Another stakeholder asks if their work has been started.
3. We would rather not say, “No,” so we say, “Yes, we are starting it now.”
4. The team is now working a little on one request and a little on another.
5. Both requests take longer and have more errors (the team’s time is divided, and context switching has a high cost).

Time is a limited resource, yet we throw it away when we do two things at once.

We need a better response when stakeholders ask, “Have you started my work?”

So, here is how the savvy product leader responds:

”No, we have not started yet. Here is what is being done before we start on your need. We work on one request at a time, as it allows us to meet every need sooner. We can discuss the order. But all needs are served best by finishing one thing before starting another.”

Savvy leaders optimize flow by starting and finishing one stakeholder need at a time.

If everything is a priority, nothing is, so stop starting and start finishing.

Bonus: My go-to response for any stakeholder ask.

I stopped at 5 stakeholder asks; there are many more, such as “How can I measure if you are on track?”

As tempting as it is to keep going, I have a go-to response that never fails.

The savvy product leader responses for the 5 listed asks are rock solid. They are grounded in customer centricity. And they respect the uncertain, complex nature of product work. But my go-to response works for any stakeholder ask, including the 5 already discussed.

This response borders on being a Jedi mind trick.

Here it is.

You know what would be great? I’d love for you to join us on our journey. You can witness our progress first hand, see what is resonating with customers, and weigh in on what we focus on next.”

This gives stakeholders the ultimate influence: steerability.

When stakeholders are involved, they can see evidence first hand from every step. Then, they can use that evidence to help influence the next step. They can help choose the path to do more, do less, or pivot.

A savvy product leader keeps stakeholders close to the work, and stakeholders love it.

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That’s it. I hope this helps you navigate the pressure of your stakeholder asks.

Savvy product leaders embrace reality and help stakeholders understand it.

For the 5 asks in this post, reality beats out hope for the savvy product leader. And one way never fails: involve your stakeholders in your journey.

Good luck bringing your stakeholders along for the ride.

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TL;DR

Here are 5 common asks and savvy leader response, plus my bonus go-to stakeholder response.

Ask 1: “When will it be done?”

• Savvy Response: “I don’t know, but let’s start experimenting to find out.”

Ask 2: “How much will it cost and what will be my return?”

• Savvy Response: “I don’t know. Let’s involve the customer to maximize outcomes while minimizing output.”

Ask 3: “Can you fit in these extra bells and whistles before release?”

• Savvy Response: “Not yet. We need to start simple and evolve only as much as is useful to our customers.”

Ask 4: Can you do it faster and cheaper?”

• Savvy Response: “Here is what we can do: 1 Order by impact, 2 Learn from each step, and 3) continuously improve.”

Ask 5: Have you started my work?”

• Savvy Response: “No, not yet. We finish one thing before starting another. This delivers everything sooner.”

Bonus: My go-to response to any stakeholder ask

• Go-to Response: “Would you like to join us and help steer our direction?”

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Related Reads

If you liked this topic, you can go deeper in the following related articles.

Master Outcome Success: Surpass 97% of Product Teams With 4 Simple Patterns

How Product Teams Claim Victory Too Soon and Let Value Slip Away (And How Not To)

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References

1. The Standish Group Chaos Report, Standish Group