Load-Bearing vs Non-Structural Products
An enterprise-facing healthtech product will inevitably include features / modules that feel like they are not central to your strategy, but either serve as connective tissue between your core product features, or simply check the box on enterprise requirements.
Assuming you build a successful product, there will likely be 1 or 2 killer features that your product becomes known for and that deliver the majority of business value (“load-bearing”), and a number of additional features that might help you check the boxes to close deals, engage users, or integrate into enterprise IT environments, but that aren’t really differentiating in and of themselves (“non-structural”).
Thinking back to the products we launched at my own startup (enterprise SaaS for health systems), we probably had 3 key load-bearing modules that we became known for / by which we were distinguished in the market, sprinkled with at least 3 non-structural modules that helped us more credibly position as an enterprise-wide (versus point) solution, integrate into our customers’ IT environments, and serve as a single pane of glass for our users’ operational workflows.
Non-structural features on a standalone basis would probably fall flat on their face, so they have to be evaluated appropriately in the grand scheme of your GTM motion, pricing strategy, competitive landscape, end user workflows, and enterprise buyer criteria. Just because those features don’t have the highest utilization by end users or don’t produce direct financial ROI, doesn’t mean you should throw them out - the psychological, behavioral, and premium pricing value they create in enabling enterprise buyer confidence and long-term user stickiness could be enough justification to keep them in.
From a team comms perspective - it’s best to be clear about which features are load-bearing versus non-structural, and to emphasize that both may be necessary for business success. It can be demoralizing for an engineer to be working on a feature that she thinks is load-bearing but is actually non-structural! Be deliberate about explaining the why behind your prioritization of those features, and try to balance how much responsibility each team has for both load-bearing and non-structural features to have everyone feel like they’re doing their part to maintain the competitiveness of the overall product suite in the market.
