A way for people to use artificial money to express trade-off decisions
Use this template to simulate the conditions that exist when people have to budget their resources to get what they want.
"Buy a feature" is a prioritization method commonly used in design thinking and product management to determine which potential features are valued the most by stakeholders.
Because you provide people with a limited amount of currency with which to buy items, participants must pick and choose which are most important, helping you quickly prioritize your list. The resulting decisions are valuable in assessing what features or concepts should be present in the final design.
Identify what people value as the most important items
Quickly prioritize items in a list
Better understand the decision-making process behind prioritization
To use the buy-a-feature template, follow the steps outlined below.
Clearly outline what the central focus of your discussion will be. Make sure it can be explained in a few words or one sentence.
The next step is to add a list of new features, ideas, or solutions that pertain to the main problem, and assign them (virtual) monetary value based on how difficult they would be to accomplish.
For example, this might be a list of product features from the backlog to be prioritized for upcoming product development.
Here’s where the game begins — by giving a fixed amount of resources to the key stakeholders, you can see which product features they would prioritize given the constraints.
Additionally, you can monitor the decision-making process, asking questions about why participants make certain choices. Those answers may be just as meaningful as their purchases.
As each set of stakeholders moves through the game, write down your takeaways using sticky notes so that you can organize your feedback into groups or themes. This will help make your results more actionable.
To get the most out of your buy-a-feature template workshop, try these tips:
Ensure that the problem or idea is clearly outlined and everyone has the appropriate context so that your feedback is meaningful and to the point
Use tools like private mode or anonymous voting to avoid groupthink and capture individual feedback even in a group setting
Make sure to ask questions of your participants as they work through the session so that you understand the thought process behind their decisions for different initiatives
"Buy a feature" is a prioritization exercise commonly used in design thinking and product management. It provides a structured approach for gathering ideas and determining the value of each feature from different perspectives.
Instead of simply voting or ranking features, participants are given a limited budget and must decide how to allocate it to the features they find most valuable. By simulating a purchasing scenario, "Buy a feature" encourages participants to consider trade-offs and make choices based on their priorities.
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