Why Incrementality Is the Secret to Smarter Product Management

Incrementality in product management means more than slow, cautious progress. It's about building on past learning, taking careful steps, and proving value at every turn. The crawl, walk, run framework shows how teams can move from testing ideas to building successful products by breaking big goals into practical steps. This method doesn’t just lower risks; it helps teams grow knowledge and confidence at each stage.

What Is Incrementality?

Incrementality isn’t just a buzzword. It’s the difference between hoping for the best and setting yourself up for steady wins. Specifically, in product management, incrementality is the approach of making progress through small, validated steps. Instead of betting everything on a single big release, teams introduce changes slowly, measure the results, and then decide what comes next.

This approach stands in sharp contrast with the traditional "big bang" strategy, which can waste time and money if early assumptions prove wrong. With incrementality, every change is a chance to learn—building confidence before taking bigger steps. For more on this philosophy, see this definition of incremental product management.

Benefits of an Incremental Approach

Taking small, deliberate steps might sound slow, but it can often speed up real progress. Here are the key benefits:

• Early validation: Get feedback from real users before investing more.

• Risk mitigation: Reduce the chance of big, costly failures.

• Resource efficiency: Use time, talent, and budget on what works.

• Adaptability: Adjust to new data, shifting priorities, or market changes.

An incremental process makes it easier to react to surprises and capitalize on what users love. This approach is also explored thoroughly in this overview of incremental products.

Common Challenges in Achieving Incrementality

Even with the best intentions, incremental progress can hit some bumps:

• Organizational impatience: Leaders may want results now, not later.

• Resource shifts: Teams can get pulled away or lose focus between steps.

• Poorly defined metrics: Without the right data, it’s tough to know if you’re moving ahead.

Having a clear plan for measuring and communicating progress can reduce these hurdles and keep everyone motivated.

Applying the Crawl, Walk, Run Model

The crawl, walk, run model gives structure to incremental progress—each phase building on the last, matching the team’s growing experience and confidence. For deeper reading, see the Crawl Walk Run Fly Methodology for frameworks in business growth.

Crawl: Laying the Foundation

The crawl phase is about starting small and learning fast. Teams focus on:

• Defining hypotheses: What do you believe about the problem and solution?

• Launching a minimum viable product (MVP): Ship the simplest version that allows real feedback.

• Learning from early users: Find what works and what falls flat.

• Setting up feedback loops: Make it easy for users to share insights.

In this phase, the team often moves slowly—but every step builds understanding. The value lies in being intentional and not rushing until you’ve proven the basics.

Walk: Building Momentum

Once you know users want what you’re building, it’s time to walk. Here’s how this looks:

• Iterative improvements: Add features and fix pain points based on real data.

• Expand the user base: Roll out to larger groups or new markets.

• Refine the product: Use feedback to tweak design, usability, and value.

• Scale team processes: Get better at code reviews, testing, and communication.

The walk phase is about turning promising signals into repeatable wins. Teams gain confidence by stacking small successes—quickly shifting priorities as more data comes in. For a practical guide, check out the four phases of scaling a product in this phased approach to product management.

Run: Accelerating Growth and Scale

The run phase is when the team moves quickly and decisively. Here, the product is mature, and most risks are well understood.

• Full-scale rollouts: Launch to all targeted customers, markets, or internal teams.

• Mature processes: Use automation and robust systems to support growth.

• Optimize features: Maximize performance, convert rates, or user retention.

• Use data for growth: Let analytics drive optimizations and new experiments.

You’ll know you’re ready to run when changes make measurable improvements and most surprises are positive, not negative.

Conclusion

Incrementality, guided by the crawl, walk, run model, empowers product teams to build smarter, safer, and faster. By focusing on learning and adapting, teams avoid major pitfalls and uncover bigger opportunities. Think about your own product or team. Are you crawling, walking, or ready to run? Wherever you are, the next step is to move forward with purpose - test, learn, and improve before leaping ahead. That’s how real product growth happens, one step at a time.

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk