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Why are executives so eager to ship faster? And why do they sometimes push back on adding more resources?
If we have 1 product manager, 4 engineers, and 1 designer, average US salaries put that team at $1M/year fully loaded.
(You can calculate the same if you’re outside the US.)
In a 2-week sprint, that’s $42,000 in human capital — our burn rate.
4 weeks to code, test, and release? —> $85K investment
4 months? —> $362.5K investment
That’s just the cost after requirements are done.
This thinking pops 3 strategic questions sharply into focus:
Given the same cost, what should this team work on that gives us the biggest return?
Can we accelerate to market by delaying certain functionality or adding resources?
Can we get the same return with fewer resources without losing quality?
THIS is the strategic lens Product Management brings. Project managers focus on balancing scope and resources against a deadline. Important? Sure. Strategic? No.
Product Managers assess trade-offs against ROI.
If we do this now, what are we not doing?
Is this the best use of our team’s investment right now or later?
Given our burn rate, does this give us the best return?
Key Takeaways
Know your burn. If leadership or Finance won’t share (for whatever odd reason), do a quick estimate. It doesn’t have to be perfect — just enough the anchor decisions.
Think in ROI, not just scope and timelines. Whether measured in money or proxy metric, make “highest return” the standard for prioritization.
When we make ROI the lens through which we view trade-offs, our roadmap decisions will not only be defensible, they’ll be unshakably strategic.
Have a joyful week, and, if you can, make it joyful for someone else too.
cheers,
shardul
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Shardul Mehta
I ❤️ product managers
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