Every week, someone shows up with a “quick thing.”

A small tweak. A one-off request. “It’ll only take a day.” Maybe two. Sometimes just an hour. And honestly? They do seem harmless on their own. 

And yes, this includes bugs in production. Most of the time, bugs are okay—and this is coming from someone who’s worked in the fintech and security space. Think about it: a bug won’t cause you to lose customers. I mean, if it does, then your product probably doesn’t offer much in the way of a value proposition anyway.  

Here’s why saying no matters: the moment you say yes, you’re no longer working on what matters. You’re reacting. You’re breaking focus. Even a one-week detour can completely wreck your momentum.

I’ve learned this the hard way so many times. 

Big projects will always take time away from other things. That’s just reality. But as a product lead, your job is to weigh everything upfront. Look across your roadmap, customer impact, and team capacity. Tie it back to your product vision and outcome you want to achieve. Ask yourself: What will move the needle towards that target state? Is it worth the tradeoff? 

Ideally, any large project you commit to should be both high urgency and high value (see my previous blog post on how to prioritise). If it is, then the things you’re saying no to aren’t being neglected. They’re being prioritised properly.

Protecting your roadmap is part of the job. Not everything needs to happen right away. Not everything should. Your vision is what holds the product together. It gives your work shape, direction, rhythm.

Every yes chips away at that. Every yes introduces friction. 

So you need to build that muscle. The muscle to say no. Or “not now.” Or “not like this.”

Because shipping something great isn’t about doing more. It’s about staying true to what you set out to do.