Diagnosing and Resolving Stalled Features in Product Development

In one of my previous roles as Head of Product, I watched from a slight distance as one of my product managers tried to deliver a major feature that slowly unravelled over time. On paper, everything looked great: the designs were done, stakeholders had signed off, and the team was ready to start development. It was meant to be a big release—something we’d been planning for months.

But the moment engineering got involved, questions started pouring in:

• How do we actually implement this part of the flow?
• Do we know how this works today?
• Have we confirmed with the stakeholders that this fits into their current process?

The troubling part wasn’t just the questions themselves—it was how slowly we were getting answers. Stakeholders, who were once vocal and enthusiastic, suddenly became slow to respond. When they did, the answers raised even more red flags. It quickly turned into a loop: Development would ask a question, we’d chase down an answer, then go back to Design or Development again with updates. Progress slowed to a crawl.

At the time, I felt some apprehension, but I chose to let the team continue and supported from the sidelines. I wasn’t 100% sure the project was blocked—it just felt murky. In hindsight, the signs were there. The lukewarm stakeholder engagement should have told me that the feature didn’t have strong internal momentum. And sure enough, after weeks of effort, we pushed it into beta—and it flopped. It didn’t work for stakeholders, didn’t fit into their workflow, and ultimately had to be scrapped.

It was a tough lesson, but a valuable one: when features stall, they’re often trying to tell you something.

1. The Moment You Know a Feature Is Stuck

You know the feeling:

• A ticket’s been sitting in "In Design" for weeks.
• It keeps coming up in stand-ups but never moves.
• People talk around it, not through it.
• There’s no clear owner—or too many.

Stalled features aren’t always an execution problem. They’re often a thinking problem. And the sooner you recognise the signs, the easier it is to course-correct.

2. Common Reasons Features Stall

Here are a few culprits I’ve seen again and again:

• Lack of clarity: No one knows exactly what the feature is solving—or why.
• Dependencies: Waiting on research, data, design, legal, or a third-party integration.
• Stakeholder apathy: The feature seemed important once, but now no one is chasing it.
• Analysis paralysis: There are too many options and not enough direction.
• Technical uncertainty: Engineering doesn’t know how to build it—or how much effort it’ll take.
• Prioritisation drift: It’s not urgent anymore, but no one’s officially deprioritised it.

3. How to Diagnose the Root Cause

The goal here is to stop the cycle of assumption and reaction.

Ask yourself:

• Where in the lifecycle did this stall?
• Who currently owns it—and are they blocked?
• Is there missing validation, data, or buy-in?
• Have we received quiet “no’s” from stakeholders (aka silence)?
• Is the problem still real and worth solving?

Use a quick working session or asynchronous document to map these questions out. You’ll usually find the answer faster than you expect.

4. Playbook: Getting It Unstuck

Once you’ve identified the friction point, here are ways to move forward:

• Time-box a realignment session: Bring in only the people who matter. Don’t invite everyone.
• Break the feature into smaller problems: Focus on the part you can move forward. If the feature still feels valuable but too complex, consider whether there's a minimum viable version (MVP) you can test or release to learn more before committing to the full scope.
• Reframe the opportunity: Go back to the original problem. Is this the best solution? Did we even diagnose the problem correctly in the first place? So often, stakeholders will say the problem is X, but after digging deeper, it turns out to be Y. If you’re solving the wrong problem from the outset, no amount of execution will save the feature.
• Create a source of truth: Centralise what’s known, unknown, and pending.
• Make a call: Kill it, pivot it, push it forward—or recognise that the priority just isn’t there right now, and it needs to take a back seat. But don’t let it float without clarity.

5. How Produmo Can Help

Produmo was built for moments like this. Most tools don’t give you a way to track early-stage friction—they’re built for shipping, not thinking.

In Produmo, you can:

• Tag tasks like "Waiting on Data" or "Blocked by Stakeholder"
• Assign validation tasks before development even starts
• Track the real status of research, design, or stakeholder input
• Kill or shelve ideas with context preserved for later
• Flag Jots or Deliverables that appear to be stalling, and receive smart recommendations for how to keep them moving forward

By recognising blockers before a feature hits engineering, you reduce waste, preserve team morale, and ship things that are truly ready.

Final Thought:
If you feel something is stalling, trust your gut. Don’t wait for the team to hit a wall—most features that fail had warning signs early on.

Stuck is a signal. Listen to it.