four-bb-product-prioritization

The 4 BB framework moves roadmap discussions away from debating individual features and toward strategic capacity planning. It forces leadership to align on the balance of investment across four distinct categories of work.

The 4 BB Categories

To use this framework, categorize every initiative in your backlog into one of these four buckets:

1. Brilliant Basics (BB1): These are foundational items—technical debt, infrastructure, security, performance, and critical bug fixes.
   • Key Principle: "Brilliant" implies these aren't just chores; they are the high-quality foundation upon which everything else is built.
2. Bread and Butter (BB2): These are incremental improvements and feature enhancements for your existing product.
   • Key Principle: This is your standard backlog that keeps current users satisfied and optimizes existing funnels.
3. Big Bets (BB3): These are large-scale initiatives that require cross-functional effort and have the potential for significant business impact.
   • Key Principle: These cannot be achieved by one team alone; they require a "Working Backwards" approach and company-wide alignment.
4. Breaking Bad (BB4): These are transformative, existential shifts or moonshots that redefine the company’s identity.
   • Key Principle: These often involve moving into entirely new categories (e.g., a food delivery app moving into grocery delivery).

Implementation Process

1. Audit the Backlog

Map every proposed item for the upcoming cycle to one of the 4 BBs. Calculate the current "Focus Point" distribution (e.g., 50% Bread and Butter, 10% Brilliant Basics, 40% Big Bets).