How do you prioritize features for a new product launch?

Listen to your gut ! Do not listen to the naysayers! Create a time line of what you want to happen and track it by printing it and putting it on the wall were you can see it everyday! Don't change you time line just push harder! Do not reduce your goals to make them easier. Remember it will take 25% longer than you think it will.

Be careful here. Many times you will get lists of “must haves” that are really “nice to have.” Carefully validate what you need in a product by talking w customers directly. Your assessment and that of your technical group may be far off. Smaller but well functioning products are preferred over larger but stuffed products that don’t work as well.

Iterate! Prototype features in small batches and check to see if they are still important for your stakeholders….often they change once they commit to using the product. Your technical team will appreciate knowing that their efforts are clearly applicable and will support a better product.

Additional crucial considerations encompass: 1- Product Stage and Objectives: Determine the product's current stage and objectives. Are you revitalizing due to sales decline, aiming for competitiveness, or launching to target a new market? Align features with these strategic goals. 2- "Job to Be Done" Framework: determine the "Job to be Done" for your target audience, and prioritize features that enable them to accomplish tasks optimally—efficiently, conveniently, and sometimes cost-effectively. 3- Resource Allocation and Risk Assessment: Evaluate each feature's implementation timelines, required resources, budget implications, and evaluate potential risks versus rewards. A comprehensive evaluation ensures prudent decision-making.

If you have followed the PDM process properly you teams should already have all the distinctive features defined, have case histories established, have partner customers giving feedback as well as collaborating on writing and endorsing both the case histories snd perhaps a society paper coinciding with the release event.