Less, but better, in practice

Dieter Rams' principle is quoted in nearly every product kickoff and applied in almost none of them. It is easy to agree with in the abstract and much harder to act on when a backlog is full of features that someone, at some point, asked for.

We look at what less, but better, concretely means for a product backlog: which features earn their place because they serve the core job, which exist mainly because nobody wanted the conversation about removing them, and how a team tells the difference under deadline pressure.

Running an actual subtraction pass is less about deciding what to cut than about building enough shared conviction to cut it without the room turning defensive. We share the format that has worked for us.