STRATEGY
Tail Wagging the Dog
When other voices derail your product
When one voice pulls strings out of sight,
It steers the whole team left and right,
Though goals go astray,
That influence sways,
And the product veers far from the light.
The expression "tail wagging the dog" is about influence being disproportionately controlled by less important entities. Who is the dog and who is the tail? The dog is the product and its strategy, typically guided by a product manager. The tail is an outspoken salesperson or executive driving the product in a new direction.
Symptoms
Disproportionate Stakeholder Influence. In many organizations, certain stakeholders — such as an executive with a strong opinion or a salesperson with a high-revenue opportunity — can push for features that don’t align with the broader product vision. This results in the strategy being reactive instead of proactive.
Loudest Voice Wins. Committed items in the strategic plan are continually deferred due to short-term feature requests. Teams shift priorities to appease the most vocal teams, which leads to short-term gains but compromises long-term goals.
Confusion Over Who Drives the Product Vision. When the "tail wags the dog," product decisions appease individuals or groups not responsible for the overall product's success, resulting in a fragmented product experience.
Frequent "Emergency" Pivots. When the product team constantly drops what it’s working on to address a single stakeholder’s demand, this is a sign that the tail is driving decisions.
Lack of Data-Driven Decisions. Decisions are made based on what influential voices want rather than what the data shows is best for the business and customers overall.
Consequences
Feature Creep and Lack of Focus. When the product strategy is constantly altered to satisfy specific interests, the roadmap becomes cluttered with disconnected features that dilute the product's core value proposition.
Diminished Team Morale and Confidence. Product teams lose confidence in the strategic vision when they are constantly pivoting to meet the needs of the loudest voice, rather than delivering on a cohesive, well-thought-out plan.
Unpredictable Roadmap and Delivery. Priorities constantly shift based on who has the most influence at any given moment, causing delays, scope changes, and a lack of trust in timelines and deliverables.
Unclear Product Strategy. If the product strategy and roadmap seem to change based on individual opinions rather than data, core principles, or customer research, influence is overtaking objective decision-making.
Recommendations
Set Clear Objectives and Guardrails. Establish clear product goals and boundaries for decision-making. This helps the team and stakeholders understand what aligns with the product's strategy and what doesn't.
Communicate and Educate Stakeholders. Engage stakeholders early to share the product vision and explain how decisions align with overarching goals. Encourage their input but help them understand that not all suggestions will make it onto the roadmap.
Introduce a Prioritization Framework. Implement IDEAS, a prioritization framework that objectively evaluates initiatives and feature requests based on impact, cost, and strategic fit. This way, decisions are rooted in data and strategy rather than influence.
Empower Product Teams. Give the product team the authority to make decisions based on the established strategy and trust them to say "no" when necessary to keep the product on course. Product managers must learn how to say no without getting fired. Clarify the impact of the decision using a before-and-after roadmap showing what has slipped.
Maintain the right balance of input and strategy. The product vision must drive decisions, not the most vocal demands.
Keeping the "tail" from wagging the "dog" helps create a more cohesive product and allows teams to focus on delivering real value.