How to manage the HiPPO effect in your product strategy

Product management decisions should be driven entirely by data and user needs. Unfortunately, that’s not always how it works.

A common example of distorted decision-making is the HiPPO effect, which stands for “highest paid person’s opinion.” It refers to the tendency for the most senior or highly paid person in the room to disproportionately influence decision-making. It becomes a problem when that person overrides data-driven insights or the expertise of product teams.

 In this article, we’ll explore the HiPPO effect in detail and outline what you can do to prevent it.

Any time you deviate from data-driven decision-making, you’re setting your business up for failure. Here are some of the ways that manifests itself:

1. Undermining data-driven decision-making: a HiPPO’s gut feeling is no match for the empirical evidence or user research that it overrides.

2. Decreased team morale: product teams may feel undervalued if their expertise and insights are consistently overlooked in favor of executive opinions.

3. Stifled innovation: the downsides of decreased team morale get amplified if more qualified individuals stop proposing new ideas because they fear they won’t be valued.

4. Misalignment with user needs: although high-ranking, HiPPOs aren’t usually the most informed about current user wants and needs.

5. Increased risk: relying heavily on HiPPO-driven decisions can lead to product strategies that are needlessly high-risk and aren’t validated by data or user feedback.

Product brainstorming works best when everyone pitches in their ideas. This is when you can find the diamonds in the rough and polish them into winning products. If team members feel pressured to align with the HiPPO’s preferences, this type of innovation can’t happen. Even worse, insights from actual users may be ignored if they contradict the HiPPO’s vision.

User research and market analysis provide keen insights into the direction a company can take, but those insights are often ignored for the HiPPO’s pet features.

This also extends to entire products. A HiPPO’s preferred projects may receive disproportionate resources, worsening the product’s potential inferiority. Projects that do get the resources they need may find their long-term roadmaps skewed by the HiPPO’s priorities.

The first step to counteracting the HiPPO phenomenon is to learn how to recognize it. Here are a few surefire signs that your project has been hijacked by the whims of a HiPPO:

1. Feature prioritization: a CEO insists on developing a complex feature despite user research showing there’s low demand and high development costs.

2. Design decisions: a senior executive ignores usability testing results and instead insists that the UX designer creates something that matches their personal aesthetic preferences.

3. Market entry: a high-ranking executive meets with a potential client and decides to enter a new market to appeal to that client despite evidence that the market segment won’t be profitable.

4. Technology stack: a CTO mandates the use of a particular technology they’re familiar with, even though the development team has identified more suitable alternatives for the project’s needs.

5. Product launch timing: a COO wants to meet quarterly goals and insists on launching a product before it’s feature-complete and bug-free.

The best way to avoid the HiPPO problem is to create processes and procedures that never let them get that level of power in the first place. Let’s discuss some ways to do that.

Develop a high-quality, evidence-based roadmap

Using tools like Dovetail, you can collect and analyze user feedback to inform your product decisions. Frameworks like the ICE (impact, confidence, ease) score or the RICE (reach, impact, confidence, effort) model can be used to objectively prioritize features and initiatives.

Create a clear vision for the product at its outset. This should be backed by compelling data that aligns with both user preferences and business goals.

For every decision on the roadmap, clearly document the reason for the decision.

Establish a decision-making process

A detailed, well-reasoned roadmap will give you the tools to counter the HiPPO effect. However, you’ll need more than that to really stop the HiPPO in their tracks.

Create processes that take away their power. Frameworks like RAPID (recommend, agree, perform, input, decide) or DACI (driver, approver, contributors, informed) help clarify decision-making roles and responsibilities.

Your processes should define objective criteria for evaluating ideas and making decisions. Next, ensure that everyone understands them. Under that system should be a culture of innovation.

Encourage all team members to contribute ideas and insights, secure in the knowledge that their input will get a fair shake.

Communicate regularly with stakeholders

Sometimes, the problem with the HiPPO lies in their ego, which can be hard to deal with. Often, though, the issue is simply their ignorance. HiPPOs aren’t always aware of the reasons for a decision or well-informed about the user research.

By keeping stakeholders informed about product development progress with key metrics and takeaways from user feedback, you’re removing that ignorance and allowing them to base their opinion on real, hard data.

Foster trust in the product team

Another common reason for HiPPOs taking unearned control of the product is their lack of trust in the product team. The team should strive to consistently deliver high-quality work and articulate decision-making processes. This will give the HiPPO fewer reasons to doubt them and override their decisions.

Remember that stakeholders are primarily concerned with business goals. If a product doesn’t align with those goals, the HiPPO is more likely to step in and alter the project’s direction. You can mitigate this problem by aligning project goals with business goals from the outset.

Despite your best efforts to keep them at bay, HiPPOs sometimes show up and stampede through a project anyway. If that’s the case, here are some useful strategies for counteracting them:

• Never hide from a HiPPO: engage with HiPPOs early and often. The more informed they are about your decisions and rationale, the easier it will be to convince them that your ideas are correct.

• A good offense is the best defense: prepare thorough research and analysis in advance to answer potential objections from the HiPPO.

• Use data to support your current plans: combine metrics with user feedback to create a compelling narrative. Conduct A/B tests to gather concrete data to share with the HiPPO.

• Compromise but set clear expectations: offer alternatives that address the HiPPO’s concerns while still aligning with the data.

The HiPPO is a common problem in product management, but they aren’t the only “animal” that can disrupt effective decision-making.

ZEBRA: Zero evidence but really arrogant

ZEBRAs are people who make bold claims without any supporting evidence. They become a problem when their charisma or authority gets their opinions taken seriously.

To counteract them, always ask for evidence to support their claims and implement processes where justification is required for major decisions.

RHINO: Really here in name only

RHINOs are stakeholders who hold positions of authority but aren’t actively engaged in product development. They sporadically appear and make uninformed interventions that disrupt the roadmap.

Keeping all stakeholders informed with regular updates and rationales can prevent this from happening.

WOLF: Working on latest fire

WOLFs are reactive in their decision-making, constantly shifting their priorities based on the most recent problem. These frequent changes in direction can cause chaos.

Mitigate the consequences of WOLFs by using data to contextualize “fires” and developing a triage system to prioritize issues without derailing the entire roadmap.