PMs, Execs, and the Feature That Went Horribly Wrong
How to handle it when you build a feature everyone hates—and why it’s not all your fault.
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Picture this: you’re sitting in a meeting, minding your own business, when an exec casually drops a bombshell idea. Your team has been working hard on a streamlined, super-efficient home automation app—simple, user-friendly, and designed to help people automate their homes seamlessly. And then out of nowhere…
Exec: “What if we make the app send random motivational quotes every time a user turns off a light? Like, ‘Well done! You’ve mastered the art of turning off the lights, Steve! Keep it up!’”
Your heart stops. Did they just say what you think they said? Motivational quotes for turning off lights? What’s next, a daily quote for flushing the toilet or running the dishwasher? You stare at your screen like you’re in a dream. But no, this is real life. And you’re the one who has to turn this idea into reality.
The PM’s Next Move: The Legendary 100-Slide Deck of Doom
Now, you’ve got to build a deck. But not just any deck—this is the legendary, 100-slide, “kill me now” monstrosity that explains why this is the worst idea ever, but with enough fluff to make it sound “data-driven” and “aligned with company goals.” You know it’s a terrible idea, but you’ve got to sell it.
Slide 1: “Why Random Motivational Quotes for Turning Off Lights is an Absurd Idea”
Slide 2: Competitive analysis—because no one else in the entire world thought this was a good idea.
Slide 3: User research—spoiler alert: nobody asked for this.
Slide 4: Cost-benefit analysis—this is going to drain resources for a feature that won’t increase engagement.
Slides 5-99: More charts. More graphs. More evidence that this is a waste of time.
Slide 100: A single sentence in bold: “Please don’t make me do this.”
But after all that work, the execs glance through the deck and go, “Great job on the presentation! Beautiful data! But, Let’s move forward with this. I have a hunch that it’s going to be revolutionary.” And you're left wondering, what universe am I even in?
PM Life: Explaining the Absurd to Engineers and Designers
A few days later, it’s time to tell the team. You gather the engineers and designers in the war room. They already know something’s off by the grim look on your face. You try to explain the new “feature” with a smile, but you can tell everyone is already silently Googling “How to quit your job without burning bridges.”
You: “Okay team, so the execs want us to add motivational quotes every time a user turns off a light. It’s a user engagement thing. We’ll make it random, but positive, to give the user a little boost every time they do something as simple as flipping a switch.”
You can feel the engineers’ souls dying a little bit. You look over at the designers. They’re doing their best to pretend they didn’t hear you say “motivational quotes for lights,” but the horror is palpable. They know what’s coming.
You try your best to sound excited about it, even though deep down, you’re questioning everything that brought you to this point. You’ve got a product to ship—and somehow, that includes making sure a user is reminded how amazing they are for turning off their lights. You try to make it sound meaningful, but really, you know it’s just a joke. And everyone on the team knows it.
The Big Reveal: The Feature Goes Live
Weeks later, it’s live. The app now sends inspirational quotes every time someone turns off a light. For example: “Well done! You’ve just saved energy by turning off the lights! You’re a hero, Steve!” or “Amazing work, Lisa! Saving the planet one switch at a time!”
And of course, you wait for the feedback. And sure enough, the complaints start flooding in. Users are furious. They didn’t download an app to be lectured on their light-switching habits. They wanted a functional tool to automate their homes, not a daily reminder of their “achievements” in the light-turning-off department.
Meanwhile, the execs are off at their next strategic offsite, floating around ideas like, “What if we add motivational voice commands to control the fridge? while you’re stuck dealing with angry users, who now feel more like they’re failing at life every time they switch off the light and get a quote that says, “Good job, but could do better.”
The Post-Mortem: The Execs and the “Why Did You Do This?” Moment
A couple of weeks later, it’s time for the post-mortem presentation. You’ve pulled together all the data—engagement metrics, user feedback, even the fact that your app now gets more 1-star reviews than a free game app on the Play Store. The data’s clear: the “motivational quotes” feature bombed harder than a flop reality TV show. But you, being the resilient PM that you are, have to make this disaster sound like a learning opportunity.
You present the post-mortem to the execs: “So, based on user feedback, the motivational quotes feature didn’t resonate with our target demographic. Users felt it was patronizing, and engagement dropped significantly after they received the first quote. However, there’s valuable insight here. Perhaps we need a more tailored approach to user motivation…”
And then, the execs start asking their beloved questions. You brace yourself, because you know what’s coming next.
Exec 1: “So… why did we push forward with this in the first place? Wasn’t it clear that no one would want to be congratulated for turning off their lights? Like, they already know they did it. They don’t need a cheerleader for every minor action.”
You smile and nod, even though you’re silently screaming inside. “Well, the initial hypothesis was that users would appreciate the positive reinforcement, and it would increase engagement…” You definitely don’t say the real reason: you were just the messenger, and you were desperately trying to sell a feature that no one wanted.
Exec 2: “Hmm. So, looking at the data, it seems like engagement dropped off quickly. What do you think went wrong? Was it just the quotes themselves? Could we have made the feature more… useful?”
Your brain goes into overdrive. Could you have made it more useful? Yeah, maybe if you had turned the app into a Roomba that actively helped with house chores instead of giving passive-aggressive compliments. But instead, you just nod again and say, “We could have focused on more actionable, user-centric features. Maybe something like reminders to save energy instead of pushing motivational content. We’ve learned a lot, and it’s definitely a good opportunity to refine our approach moving forward.”
Exec 3: “Okay, but what was the hypothesis? What were we testing exactly? Was this feature part of a larger strategy? Can you explain how this fit into the bigger picture?”
You blink, because honestly, at this point, the bigger picture is just a bunch of execs in a room throwing random ideas at you, and you were just trying to keep the lights on—literally. “The hypothesis was that positive reinforcement could improve user engagement with the app’s core features, but we now see that was a bit off…”
And then the kicker.
Exec 4: “I still don’t understand why this was the direction we went in. Why didn’t we just focus on improving the core functionality of the app? I mean, isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? I don’t know, maybe add more smart home integrations or something useful.”
You sit there, staring at them. You really want to say, “Maybe if we hadn’t spent so much time at your offsites discussing whether or not we should add motivational quotes to the app, we would’ve had time to focus on smart home integrations, you know, the actual thing the users care about.” But instead, you take a deep breath and go for the more diplomatic response. “Absolutely. That’s a great point. Moving forward, we’ll focus on user-centric, high-impact features that align with our long-term strategy.”
And just like that, you wrap up the post-mortem, knowing full well that nothing is going to change. The execs will forget about this feature as soon as the next “brilliant” idea comes along. Meanwhile, you’re left to patch up your relationship with the engineering team, who are still trying to figure out how they ended up spending weeks on an app feature that never should have existed.