# Four Bb Product Prioritization

> Categorize and balance your product roadmap using the "4 BB" framework to align leadership on strategic trade-offs between stability, optimization, and innovation. Use this during quarterly planning, when technical debt is accumulating, or when the team is struggling to balance moonshots with maintenance.

- Skill: `samarv/four-bb-product-prioritization` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add samarv/four-bb-product-prioritization`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/samarv/four-bb-product-prioritization/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Product & Planning
- Author: samarv (https://skillmd.com/u/samarv)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/samarv/four-bb-product-prioritization

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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).

### 2. Design Divergent Allocation Scenarios
Instead of presenting one roadmap, present three divergent scenarios for how the company could spend its "Focus Points":
*   **The Foundation Play:** High investment (40%+) in Brilliant Basics to solve for scale/stability.
*   **The Growth Play:** High investment (60%+) in Bread and Butter to maximize current revenue streams.
*   **The Visionary Play:** High investment (50%+) in Big Bets or Breaking Bad to stay ahead of competitors.

### 3. Facilitate the Strategic Choice
Present these scenarios to leadership. Do not ask "Which features do you want?" Ask "Which future do you want to invest in?"
*   If they choose a "Visionary Play," explicitly state the cost: "This means we will ignore 80% of current bugs and stop optimizing our existing checkout flow."

## Examples

**Example 1: A Food Delivery Marketplace**
*   **Context:** The app is experiencing frequent outages during peak hours, but competitors are launching faster delivery memberships.
*   **Scenario A (Stability):** 50% Brilliant Basics (Backend scaling), 30% Bread and Butter (UI tweaks), 20% Big Bets (Membership launch). 
*   **Scenario B (Aggressive):** 10% Brilliant Basics, 20% Bread and Butter, 70% Big Bets (Membership launch + New "Quick Commerce" vertical).
*   **Outcome:** Leadership realizes they cannot have both 100% stability and 100% innovation. They align on a 30/30/40 split.

**Example 2: A Neobank/Fintech App**
*   **Context:** The team is maintaining a savings account product while trying to launch a credit card.
*   **Brilliant Basics:** Automating KYC compliance to reduce manual overhead.
*   **Bread and Butter:** Improving the "Interest Earned" visualization for savings users.
*   **Big Bets:** Launching the first credit card product (requires cross-team coordination with risk and legal).
*   **Breaking Bad:** Pivoting from a personal banking app to a B2B payroll platform.

## Common Pitfalls
*   **Under-branding Tech Debt:** Calling BB1 "Tech Debt" or "Maintenance" makes it easy to cut. Using the term "Brilliant Basics" emphasizes that excellence starts with the foundation.
*   **The "Everything is a Big Bet" Trap:** If you have 10 "Big Bets," you have zero. Limit Big Bets to 1-3 initiatives that the entire leadership team commits to.
*   **Ignoring the Trade-offs:** The primary value of this framework is the "Negative Space"—what you *won't* do. Ensure the "Won't Do" list is as clear as the "Will Do" list.
*   **Tactical Drifting:** Allowing Bread and Butter items to slowly "bleed" into the capacity reserved for Big Bets. Use strict Focus Point allocations to prevent this.