Developers can't agree on a critical feature. How do you steer the project towards success?

Listening to team is important - especially to understand their concern and direction. More importantly what technical foundations need to be built or a judgement call to add some story points to get better velocity in future. Depends on what role I am playing. As a product owner I need to make decision on priority. However that decision needs to be based on reality and finally people needs to be agreeing on the priorities.

To steer the project towards success when developers disagree on a critical feature: 1. Facilitate open discussion 2. Focus on project goals and user needs 3. Seek data-driven insights 4. Consider a compromise or hybrid solution 5. If needed, involve a neutral third party 6. Make a clear decision and document reasoning 7. Set a timeline to reassess the decision

- Understand the ask (from product/business), and map out the must-have parts of the feature - For these must-have parts, work with engineering to map out dependencies (a good proxy for these is the # of layers of tech stack impacted by the feature) - Listen, and empathise; product should own how to balance out time/quality/scope of the feature; prioritize carefully and in collaboration with engineering before commits to the business - Encourage a culture of disagreements and conflicts; and reflect back on how process can be improved. It is key to have open and frank discussions, and healthy conflict. All the best products are been built through conflict, but with commits based on consensus

Once you build it, you’re going to own it. That means making sure that it operates well, adds value and contributes to a better user experience. Directly and indirectly, your plan for further development must include features that entail a sense of familiarity for the users. If people come back, asking for more, you have done well and that should also bring a healthy revenue.

Consensus has to do with agreement, voluntary or not. What is crucial is conviction, meaning that everybody in your team will have to believe in the proposed change, if there is to be any prospect of success. A vote of confidence is a powerful indicator, it can show deep determination as well as the presence of a culture of silence, for example.

In this challenging situation, it is of great importance to know the team, understand the team, and present oneself accurately to the team. At this point, the decision-maker holds the most critical role. The team's perspective towards the decision-maker, along with the knowledge and experience they have regarding the work being done, is of great importance. If developers believe that their arguments are well understood, mutual trust is established, and they feel that they will always be supported by the decision-maker regardless of the outcome, it is possible to transform the negative situation into positive motivation. With this motivation, communicating the decision to the developers in all its details will facilitate the process.