Prodigent

Product Decision Examples

Realistic examples of well-documented decisions — from pricing to platform bets.

Good decision records read like short stories: a problem, a fork in the road, and a choice with trade-offs. Below are three patterns teams use repeatedly.

Example: Scope cut

  • Decision: Launch v1 without admin roles
  • Why: 80% of beta users are single-seat teams
  • Alternative rejected: Full RBAC (adds 6 weeks)
  • Assumption: Multi-seat demand stays below 20% at launch

Example: Platform bet

  • Decision: Build on Postgres, not a document store
  • Why: Relational queries for reporting are core
  • Alternative rejected: Mongo for flexible schemas
  • Assumption: Schema changes stay manageable with migrations
We chose annual billing only because monthly churn masked activation problems. When activation improved, we revisited — and the log showed exactly why we had waited.
— Head of Product, B2B SaaS

Example: Pricing change

  1. 1

    Context

    Free tier usage grew 3x but conversion flatlined. Sales reported confusion about what was included.

  2. 2

    Decision

    Replace free tier with 14-day trial; keep a limited free plan for students only.

  3. 3

    Alternatives

    Grandfather existing free users (rejected: ops burden). Raise limits on free (rejected: does not fix positioning).

  4. 4

    Outcome tracking

    Revisit in 90 days against trial-to-paid rate and support ticket volume.