108 must-have features, cut to an MVP that shipped in six months.
Product strategy, mobile ยท LBG engagement
The Real Problem Behind the Backlog
Patients were struggling with the basics across a fragmented care network: booking appointments, messaging providers, getting records, managing prescriptions. The team had a backlog of 108 must-have features, and that was the symptom rather than the problem. Everyone had a strong opinion about what mattered and there was no shared truth about what patients needed most.
Cutting 108 Down to What Ships
We ran all 108 through RICE and impact scoring, weighing user need, technical feasibility, and business impact. The hard part was not the scoring. It was saying no to loud internal requests and holding the line on evidence over opinion. What survived was the handful of features that would actually move care access.
Measuring What Mattered
Legacy applications lacked data instrumentation, so there was no baseline to work from. We defined the KPIs up front: successful scheduling with weekly and monthly increases in appointments, task completion time, bounce rate, and user retention. Feature level targets were explicit, such as a feature being used by 35% of users in the first 30 days and 45% at six months. Everything was tracked through Power BI and the app stores.
Validated Before Launch
We shipped prototypes and betas and tested against real patient and provider feedback before launch, then used the metrics to decide what to fix and what to build next. The go to market plan was built alongside marketing, clinical, and sales so positioning and adoption were planned rather than assumed.
Highlighted Initiatives
- Led the Manage Care track for a Fortune 5 launch. Owned product strategy and execution for the Optum Patient Health and Optum Guide apps across iOS and Android.
- Prioritized 108 must-have features with RICE. Weighed user need, technical feasibility, and business impact to build a roadmap the launch could actually carry.
- Shipped in six months. Concept to launch, including secure provider messaging, health records access, and prescription management.
- Set the go to market strategy. Worked with marketing, product, clinical, and sales on positioning, launch messaging, and adoption across patient and provider segments.
- Defined KPIs where none existed. Legacy systems had no instrumentation, so we established the measurement framework from scratch.
- Ran beta programs and prototype cycles. Rapid prototyping and user testing surfaced usability issues before launch, not after.
- Aligned cross-functional teams. Design, engineering, marketing, clinical operations, and executives around one product vision.
- Tracked performance in Power BI and the app stores. Used the numbers to decide what to fix next rather than guessing.
What Shipped
A backlog of 108 must-have features became an MVP that launched in six months across iOS and Android, with secure provider messaging, health records access, and prescription management.
108 → 6
Must-have features cut to a shipped MVP
6 months
Concept to launch on iOS and Android
Fortune 5
Built inside a healthcare network at national scale
What We Learned
A backlog of 108 must-have features is never a prioritization problem. It is a symptom of everyone holding a strong opinion and nobody holding shared evidence. The scoring was the easy part. The hard part was saying no out loud to senior stakeholders, and it only worked because we had defined the KPIs before we started cutting. On legacy healthcare systems with no instrumentation, establishing the measurement framework was not preparation for the work. It was the work.
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