PART III - Assertive Decision Making

Discovering and Selecting Success Criteria

Missed PART II? No problem! Just click 👉 here.

We've reached the stage - perhaps the most crucial and certainly the longest - of our journey towards more assertive decision-making: the identification and selection of Success Criteria. At this point, we'll deep-dive into corporate strategy, explore a wide range of factors that shape our choices and guide our efforts. This is where decisions are based on tangible data and clear objectives.

But before moving on, it is crucial to emphasize that the criteria presented below are generic and can be adjusted, removed, or complemented according to the nuances of each corporate environment. However, if your company has already defined specific goals, such as increasing revenue by X% or improving NPS by Y points, these can be directly incorporated into the success criteria, providing even clearer direction for your decisions.

For each item, the evaluation will be marked with YES or NO as a qualitative criteria. I'll provide some examples to ease understanding. The first 5 criteria listed are the most strategic and should be considered a priority, especially if the company doesn't have their own clear strategic objectives or if these cannot be derived into specific goals. Otherwise, I suggest using the objectives and goals already defined by your company.

Although in some cases a quantitative (numerical) criteria can be applicable, I'll NOT go into details about the method itself at this stage. But it's important to consider that using quantitative criteria can be beneficial in more complex prioritization processes... Who knows, I might write about "quantitative" approach in the near future?!

Now, let's dive into the criteria that will guide our choices towards strategic objectives.

Strategic Criteria:

REVENUE GROWTH & MARKETSHARE

Evaluates the growth potential, revenue generated, and market share that the initiative can provide.

• Qualitative: YES or NO if there is relevant impact on revenue (this varies from company to company).
• Quantitative: Total Addressable Market (or TAM) of the product or initiative. Current vs. future market share. Quantify with numbers the growth potential, estimate additional revenue, and analyze the impact on marketshare.
• Practical Examples: Expected 20% increase in annual revenue, gaining 5% market share. Securing the first paying customer contract for a new product (YES or NO). Goal to capture 2% of the TAM. Initiative will benefit 50% of the current customer base. Sales forecast represents a potential of 10 new large customers using the new product. 10 large customers did not sign up due to the lack of a specific feature.

BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY

Evaluates whether the initiative is sustainable in the long term, considering its impact on the company's resources and operations, especially in expansions or even new businesses.

• Qualitative: YES or NO when analyzing operational efficiency, financial viability, resource optimization, and cost increases, if applicable.
• Quantitative: Evaluation of the financial impact of the initiative, such as Return on Investment (ROI), expected additional profitability, specific cost reductions, increased operational efficiency measured in percentage, among other relevant financial indicators.
• Practical Examples: 15% reduction in operational costs. Use of artificial intelligence for simpler customer support issues. Doubling the number of customers without doubling the cost of operations and resources. Expanding to new markets by reusing existing processes and structures.

CX & CUSTOMER SUCCESS

Evaluates User Experience, satisfaction, and potential impact on customer or user success with the given initiative.

• Qualitative: YES or NO if there is a relevant impact on satisfaction metrics or based on real feedback collected (this may vary according to the context).
• Quantitative: Collect user feedback, analyze satisfaction and customer retention metrics. Quantify positive reviews, positive comments, votes if there is any collection platform, number of NPS 9 or 10, etc.
• Practical Examples: 10-point increase in NPS year-over-year. Reversing a downward trend to increase customer satisfaction in surveys. 20% reduction in churn rate (customer turnover). Amount of feedback regarding the need for the new feature in question.

LEADING-EDGE, CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

Evaluates the degree of innovation, disruptiveness, and adoption of cutting-edge technology of the initiative.

• Qualitative: YES or NO if the use of emerging technologies is identified, if the originality of the proposal is confirmed, or if unmet market needs are explored.
• Practical Examples: Implementation of artificial intelligence for product personalization. Launch of a new pioneering product in the market. Augmented reality or immersive experience in an app. Integration with other platforms in the market, etc.

PEOPLE ORIENTED CAPABILITY BUILDING & TALENT DEVELOPMENT

Evaluates the impact of the initiative on the development, training, motivation, and retention of employees.

• Qualitative: YES or NO. Analyze learning and professional growth opportunities provided by the initiative.
• Practical Examples: Training in new skills for the team, mentoring programs for junior employees. Need for the team to certify in new technologies. Initiative requires integration between areas with little interaction, such as legal with technology.

Generic Criteria:

(mark as YES or NO)

SCALABILITY

• Ability to expand to other programs in the Organization, or even a requirement for Market entry (Go-To-Market).

MAKE OR BUY ANALYSIS

• This is a strategic decision between producing internally (make) or acquiring externally (buy). Consider "YES" when it is possible to analyze the feasibility of internal production versus outsourcing, and when internalizing the initiative seems more advantageous.

UX & FEEDBACK

• Consider "YES" if the initiative represents a positive impact for most or all users (not necessarily paying), or if there are frequent feedbacks and opinions from registered users, visitors (guests), or even comments collected about the lack of a certain function or problems. The collection methods vary widely from company to company, depending on the tools used. Examples include reviews in app stores, SurveyMonkey, Medallia, Zendesk, among others.

CX IMPROVEMENT

• Unlike "UX & FEEDBACK," which concerns direct user perception, this criterion is a more consultative evaluation made by the Customer Experience team. These teams are usually multidisciplinary, composed of marketing professionals, designers, facilitators, and CX specialists, among others. They can confirm whether a particular initiative represents a significant improvement in user experience and satisfaction.

REQUESTED BY HIGH-TIER CLIENT

Consider "YES" if the request comes from a strategic and/or large client with relevant revenue. These levels of relevance may vary according to each organization.

DATA TREND ANALYTICS

• Using available data analytics tools, such as Google Analytics or the company's BI, consider "YES" if the initiative has the potential to contribute to a strategic metric or optimize sales "funnels," such as "Conversion Rate," "Average Time on Page," "Bounce Rate," "Product Consumption," "Usage (underutilized or overutilized)," among others. This work is continuous and always evolving, depending on the context. An important point to consider is whether the initiative can impact seasonality, such as whether a feature will be more useful in rainy seasons or will boost sales during summer/winter. Additionally, depending on the organization, sales reports (e.g., from Salesforce), combined with other information, can enable the definition of "Personas" and provide insights into the "Buying Behavior" for a particular product over time, which can also be useful for product strategy.

SUPPORT IN CUSTOMER SERVICE

• YES if the initiative contributes, latently or specifically, to reducing Incidents or Requests. Statistical data from Customer Service Centers, such as Customer Service, Call Center, and Incident & Problem Management, can be used to support this analysis.

RISK & COMPLIANCE

• YES, if recommended by the Security team or the Compliance team, aiming to seek compliance or mitigate institutional, technical, or other risks.

MARKETING CAMPAIGN

• YES, in case the initiative is supported or requested by the Marketing team as part of a campaign or as a result of one. Additionally, it is relevant to verify whether the initiative contributes to any of the strategic objectives listed earlier.

BEST PRACTICES

• YES, if the initiative is based on benchmarking analyses, represents a market practice not yet adopted, is a successful feature of a competitor (Competitor Analysis), or addresses a significant gap in terms of functionality or product that impacts the usability of many customers and users.

RAPID EXPANSION / QUICK-WINS

• YES, if the initiative, product, feature, change, or improvement is applicable or adoptable quickly by other products and services without much effort. These are improvements that can be easily replicated to maintain a standard and consistency, such as the inclusion of more intuitive icons instead of texts and buttons. For example, replacing the phrase "we do not accept cash, only debit card" with an appropriate icon would be easily implemented in other features and applications.

RISK MITIGATION

• YES, if the initiative contributes to reducing or eliminating some risk, whether technical, institutional, or business-related. An example would be implementing 2FA (two-factor authentication) to improve security or introducing a Screening function (criminal background check or PPE) in a registration process.

COST OF NOT DOING / AVOID TECHNICAL DEBTS

• This is a tricky one in my opinion... In this criteria, the technical team can provide guidance to determine if it is YES or NO. Depending on the case, the Marketing team or field research can also support the initiative. It is an analysis of the future cost over time of not implementing or changing something. For example, the criterion would be "NO" in the case of a feature using an outdated and non-scalable programming language, such as C++, due to the unavailability of other developers to meet project deadlines, knowing that it will be necessary to migrate to a more modern and compatible language in the future. Another example would be not migrating to the cloud and maintaining local systems, which can impact the future capacity for business expansion. Not implementing a security protocol that could result in the removal of an application from a service provider after the compliance deadline can also represent a cost. A common case is the lack of Social Login (Google, Facebook) in the authentication implementation, which can result in the loss of potential new users who prefer this method over traditional registration. As a rule, if the initiative avoids a future cost, it is YES. If it generates a future cost, it is NO.

SUGGESTED BY SENIOR MANAGEMENT

• Here, the point is not about insubordination, even because often "the bosses can be wrong...". However, there is the possibility that executives have privileged (and often confidential) information that some initiatives have enormous potential. Therefore, respecting the confidentiality of the information, it is recommended that this criterion has a minimum level of support to justify the prioritization of the initiative. An example would be: "Director ABC requests priority due to the potential for expansion in regions where the company is not yet present, where there will be a demand for the product in the next Y months, due to an ongoing acquisition, etc.," without mentioning names, clients, among others.

REQUESTED BY CUSTOMER ADVOCATES

• Initiatives requested by stakeholders, preferably with more influential positions, from more strategic clients who advocate for our company or product.

RESEARCH AND SURVEYS

• The YES here should be indicated if the initiative is supported by research, interviews, studies, or even retrospectives conducted with both customers and users.

MEASURABILITY

• This criterion refers to how easy it is to define the success criteria of the initiative, whether it is possible to measure indicators, or if additional developments will be necessary to measure the results. If it is imperative to measure success but with great effort and little clarity in the criteria, it would be NO. If it is easy to establish criteria, as well as the effort to measure is low, or even if it is not so relevant to have a metric as a decision factor, I usually categorize it as YES.

TOP DOWN / MANDATORY

• This criterion applies to initiatives that must be carried out, although they are not an immediate emergency. They enter the prioritization because they must be completed within the year, for example, and therefore can be included in the priority ranking without the need to interrupt other ongoing work. Examples may include an executive decision to integrate platforms or Rebranding due to acquisitions that require changes in visual identity.

CONSIDERABLE LEVEL OF EFFORT (HIGH LOE)

• In this criterion, the definition is reversed. If the necessary effort is small, the answer is YES, as the task can be completed quickly. If it is large, the answer is NO. Estimates vary considerably in each corporate environment. If there are doubts or if there is no established method by the company (such as Story Points, T-Shirt Sizing, etc.), it is useful to make comparisons with previous work. A detailed refinement is not necessary, but a high-level estimate, in which the technical teams can help. Practically, I defined that if it fit within a 2-week Sprint, along with another development of the same size, I considered it an average effort, and therefore, categorized it as YES (low level of effort, therefore, a relatively easy task to accomplish).

Quite a lot, right! Try to list at least 20 success criteria, with the top 4 or 5 aligned with the company's strategic objectives.

After listing the Success Criteria and evaluating whether the answer to each of them is YES or NO, we will be ready to move on to the next chapter: the Scoring Method.

Click 👉 here for PART IV.

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