How to handle NOs from stakeholders
PMs receive more NOs than they get to say NO
Hey PMs
“Product Managers should learn to say NO”
It’s funny how many influencers have said that on social and various blogs. It seems they are espousing that saying NO is a skill a PM needs to learn.
Personally I have struggled with that phrase. But let me give the benefit of the doubt to these experts. I think I get the spirit behind their advice.
I never say NO. For various reasons.
I don’t like burning bridges.
Maybe the other party has genuine insights and I should at least listen
Perhaps they have some contextual information that I am not privy too.
At the very least I owe anyone with a product request a fair hearing, figure out the context and then provide a logical reason back.
Perhaps this is a personal choice. But there is another challenge for us product managers.
In my experience, I have had more NOs told to me than an opportunity for me to say NO.
We receive a lot of NOs. And these NOs come from everywhere.
executives
engineering
design
marketing and sales
finance and legal
How do you handle the NOs ?
First some basic principles.
Business is about allocating scarce resources.
Resources means money, time, materials. Since we are talking about SAAS, it’s usually money and time.
So when you hear a NO from someone, there could be two possibilities -
they have genuine business reason to say NO
you think you have a better business case but you are not able to persuade
In any case, as a PM you should :
Stay calm
Don't be emotional
Don’t be defensive
Let's walk through some examples.
NO from executives
You are likely to get most of the NOs when presenting to executives. Your ask to executives will likely be around priorities, timelines, and resources. From an executive perspective, they are weighing the pros and cons of your ask against the realities of the marketplace.
Once I was asked to build a product strategy for a new reporting solution. It would take months of work and even then it would not be robust solution. My alternative was to partner with a vendor or acquire a company. We would get robust functionality and fast time to market. The problem to be solved was large enough for retention issues.
I was told NO. And a few reasons were given. One of the big one was that the partner I chose was located in a country where we did not have a presence. Which meant more coordination with enginering, added operational risk, legal issues of running another country office and so on. These were reasons I had not considered. And I walked away thinking this was a better decision and then we started building on our own. Thanks to my executives. My product solution sounded good on paper, but it would have been an operational nightmare.
As PM, you will be presenting your case to executives - roadmap, product strategy, timeline, build vs buy, resources asks etc. All of these are big asks and each require strong alignment from other departments like sales and marketing and finance. And your executives want to ensure that all parts of the organization are able to follow through on your plan. If your plan requires some marketing communications and marketing is not on board, then there will be pushback. If you are trying to sell a new product but the sales team incentives for quote are not in line, the executives will ask to hold or wait.
Here are some best practices to present your business case to executives.
Provide data-backed evidence and case studies to support your proposal.
Offer a compromise or alternative solution that aligns with their priorities.
Emphasize the long-term benefits and ROI of implementing the idea.
Ensure you have taken the business strategy and marketplace contexts in your proposal
Clearly state all assumptions
No from Design team
I wanted a specific design idea, but the UX wanted to do some research. I did not have the time for that research. We had to come to some agreement soon. I proposed a middle ground. Let’s start with the basic engineering work and then give UX time to research.
With design and UX, I learnt that providing your own PM version of design is not helpful. Instead focus on that you want the product to do, how your users should experience the work. By all means mention the way you think is best for users e.g. Allow users to create an invoice in 3 steps without them thinking too much.
Here are some points to consider while working with design:
Make sure you have communicated a clear idea of the customer experience
Explain how the proposal aligns with the overall user experience and brand identity.
Offer to conduct user testing or design iterations to validate the idea.
Show examples of successful implementations or industry best practices to inspire confidence.
Listen to their concerns
No from Marketing and Sales
You will likely not get pushback from marketing or sales. The only time you might get pushback from sales is when you want to request a meeting with customers. Your best bet is to emphasize the value of customer discussions.
No from Engineering
The bulk of your discussions as a PM is with engineering. So the surface area for disagreements and NOs from them is much larger. You will likely get NO from engineering on priorities, approaches or even specific implementations.
As with design, providing solution suggestions is not very helpful. Stick to what you want the product experience to be for users. Document your requirements in as much detail as necessary, including any logic considerations.
Here are some ideas:
Engage in open dialogue to understand their technical constraints and challenges.
Offer to work together to find creative solutions or compromises.
Provide a clear roadmap and timeline for implementation to manage expectations.
Highlight the potential benefits or efficiencies of your proposed idea.
No from Finance and Legal
I was once working on a legal compliance and most of my run-ins with legal were on specific interpretations of the law. This was a bit of a challenge because I was not very versed in the language of the law.
Finance is also an important stakeholder especially if you are asking for resources or trying to acquire a company or even trying a new partnership with a vendor. They might push back on your assumptions and challenge you on your calculations.
Quantify the potential ROI and financial impact of the proposal.
Collaborate with the legal team to identify and mitigate any legal risks associated with the proposal.
Provide documentation or case studies demonstrating compliance with relevant regulations.
Conclusion
As a PM, you will likely be dealt more NOs than you will have the opportunity to say NO. Learn to accept these NOs from your stakeholders and learn to respond effectively. Use the NOs to learn their motivations and context.
Dont’ be defensive about your own ideas or proposal.
Effectively dealing with "no" from stakeholders is a desired skill for product managers.
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