For the very first Unbuilt session, hosted at tiket.com, we had people from product, design, research, engineering, ops, and founders in the room. That mix made the discussion around managing trade-offs even richer.
The session ran in two parts: a roundtable with the room, then a Q&A with Prayudi Utomo on how trade-offs work in the public sector — where success metrics aren't always clear, and "no one is left behind" changes the nature of the trade-off from who to when.
"Better trade-offs come from shared understanding, not frameworks."
Walking away, one thing was clear: there's no silver bullet for managing trade-offs. Context matters.
What we took away
Roundtable discussion
- •Business pressure vs user needs is still the classic trade-off. Without an MVP that solves a real user problem, the commercial side won't follow. The product has to work before it can scale
- •Growth vs profit is no longer the main tension; it's short-term vs long-term. You see this in roadmaps, hiring, and prioritisation — balancing short-term wins with long-term bets is where the real strategic work happens
- •How much discovery you need depends on how critical the problem is. If the problem is critical to users, go deeper in discovery. If not, ship and iterate fast
- •Collaboration matters more than frameworks. The best decisions happen when teams bring constraints, risks, insights, and ideas to the table together
- •AI is still a wild card, but it can remove some trade-offs. One application: improving cross-functional collaboration by translating intent and requirements. Guiding principle: AI is a tool, not a decision maker
Q&A with Prayudi Utomo
- •Trade-offs in government are trickier because success metrics aren't always clear. Public sector teams often need to define what "success" even means first, through research and deep problem understanding
- •"No one is left behind" changes the nature of trade-offs. Unlike the private sector, which can focus on a specific segment, the public sector expects solutions for everyone. The trade-off is often when, not who
- •Choosing which problems to solve comes down to size, speed, and partnership. Size shows how many people stand to benefit. Speed shows how quickly value can reach them. Partners with decision-making power turn intent into reality
- •Teams need alignment on value, not mechanics. Budgets, timelines, and opinions will keep shifting. Shared clarity on value is what keeps teams aligned, even when leaders aren't