“The customer wanted it yesterday.”
An urgent request arrives without evidence showing how many customers share the need.
Before the next delivery
A CUSTOMER REQUEST does not make it a priority.
Is your roadmap receiving new requests without anything leaving the agenda?
Initial conversation · For CPOs, Heads of Product, CTOs and CEOs
How these teams made their decisions
- 500+Companies served by George Eich
- 650+Startups mentored through Startup SC
- 60+Startups supported through Cubo Itaú
Companies served by George Eich
- Techne
- Climoo
- PSA
- Ambev
- Evous
- Locates
Institutions and startup programs
- Sebrae
- ACATE
- MIDITEC
- Cubo Itaú
- Startup SC
Locates
While switching platforms, the team used customer needs to decide which features to include and which to defer.
EVOUS
The team used customer evidence to decide when to strengthen its core product and when to expand its offering.
“We gained a more strategic view of the product and were able to prioritize the roadmap and the company’s positioning.”Feedback shared with the Institute · English translation
59
empresas na amostra do estudo
1,423
needs analyzed
80.32%
did not meet the 30% customer prioritization threshold
A decisão invisível
O roadmap cresce. A clareza nem sempre acompanha.
A request may reflect a real need. But that does not prove it is relevant to your ICP, creates enough value or deserves capacity ahead of other opportunities. Without this distinction, prioritization becomes a battle of opinions.
“It is one of the most voted-for features.”
Votes alone do not explain strategic relevance, current fulfillment or value potential.
“Podemos desenvolver.”
Technical capacity does not answer whether maintaining the solution is worth the cost.
Da decisão à geração e captura de valor
What moves into the next cycle, what waits and what should stop consuming capacity?
A need may exist without justifying strategic priority. Research tests relevance, while leadership also considers capacity, feasibility and economic returns.
01 / Situação de compra
What is at stake
The team absorbs more commitments than it can sustain without displacing important work.
02 / Strategic Prioritization Study
What to investigate
Connect initiatives to customer needs and assess shared relevance and fulfillment.
03 / Need-Based Value Matrix
How to apply
Urgent requests enter the plan without a sufficiently clear connection to relevant product value.
The Value Matrix guides decisions across three horizons: strengthen Core Business, expand through Expansion and create through Innovation. The Study supplies evidence, while value creation, capture and ROI also depend on economic conditions and execution.
Read more
80.32%
Nem toda necessidade real deveria virar prioridade.
In the 59-company sample from The Need Gap 2026, 80.32% of the 1,423 needs analyzed did not reach the 30% customer prioritization threshold in their respective bases.
Source: George Eich Institute, The Need Gap 2026. This is a sample finding, not a universal estimate. Relevance also depends on the ICP, context and opportunities to create and capture value.
Try making a choice
Três demandas. Uma vaga no próximo ciclo.
You must choose now. Is the available information enough? Select a request to see what is still missing.
SIMULAÇÃO EXECUTIVAStep 1 of 1 · Choose a request
Which of these three opportunities deserves to move forward first?
All are plausible. None has enough evidence on its own to justify a strategic priority.
WHAT IS STILL MISSING TO DECIDE
Select one of the requests above.
You will see what evidence would make the decision less dependent on opinions and pressure.
% do ICP que priorizaICAN / perceived fulfillmentValue creation and captureViabilidade e custo sustentável
The goal is not another questionnaire for every feature. It is to develop a continuously updated evidence base to guide the roadmap.
I want to structure our evidence
O que fazemos
Your team does not need another list.
It needs criteria for choosing.
01 / INVESTIGAMOS
Descoberta qualitativa
Investigate the outcome customers need to achieve, not just feature requests.
02 / ESTRUTURAMOS
Validação quantitativa e ICAN
Find which needs are shared and how well respondents perceive them to be fulfilled.
03 / DIRECIONAMOS
Executive analysis for the roadmap
Connect relevance with value, feasibility, complexity and capacity to guide choices.
You do not need to manually analyze every backlog item. We structure an evidence base that can continuously guide roadmap choices in line with the agreed scope and company context.
Quem está por trás do método
George Eich
“Nem a execução perfeita corrige uma prioridade errada.”
Pesquisador e fundador do George Eich Institute, George Eich criou a disciplina Need-Based Decision Science e a métrica ICAN, applied to understanding relevant needs and supporting strategic decisions.
Em 2014, fundou a CoBlue, an early OKR company in Latin America. Experience connecting strategy and execution strengthened his evidence-based prioritization approach, directing effort to what may create and capture value.
650+Startups mentoradas desde 2016
no Startup SC / SEBRAE
no Startup SC / SEBRAE
500+Companies advised
10+Years connecting strategy
e execução
e execução
BR·USAtuação no Brasil
e nos Estados Unidos
e nos Estados Unidos
Dúvidas sobre prioritization.
Is this a feature-scoring tool?
No. It is a service that structures evidence and guides priorities. Tools can support decisions, but relevance starts with understanding customer needs and the business context.
Do we need to have customer-needs data already mapped?
Not necessarily. In the initial conversation, we assess what the company already knows and what evidence must be gathered to support decisions.
Does this work replace product and technology management?
No. Leadership and teams remain responsible for product vision, execution, estimates and commitments. The engagement strengthens the grounds for strategic choices.
Nem a execução perfeita corrige uma prioridade errada.
Your team already knows which features it can build. Let's find which needs justify using that capacity, with evidence to support the decisions.
NEXT DECISION
Prioritize roadmap and product
Briefly describe the decision, investment or challenge you need to assess. We will follow up to understand your needs and agree on an appropriate scope.
