At 3rd Brain, our approach to product development is rooted in simplicity, clarity, and prioritization. Over the years, drawing from my experiences at tech giants like Amazon and fast-moving startups—along with the insights of my co-founder and wife, a product leader at The New York Times—we’ve refined a straightforward framework for making product decisions.

A Shared Language for Prioritization

Since both of us love food and cooking, we naturally turned to a food-based analogy to create a common languagefor how we prioritize feature development. This analogy helps us answer the age-old question: What should we build first?

The result? Five distinct types of product features, each with a culinary counterpart that makes prioritization easy and intuitive.

🥛 The Milk: The Basics (Foundation, but not user-facing value)

Think of this as nurturing a newborn—essential, but not yet delivering direct user value. These features ensure the product functions properly behind the scenes, like a solid database structure, security protocols, or system architecture.

🥦 The Required Veggies: Non-Negotiable Core Features (The foundation of your product’s utility)

Some features are the core building blocks of your product—just like vegetables in a well-balanced meal. These are the non-negotiable elements that define your product category.

💡 Example from 3rd Brain: The ability to create and complete a task. Without this, we wouldn’t have a productivity tool.

🍞 The Expected Carbs: Standard User Expectations (Table-stakes features users expect)

Carbs are expected in most meals, and some features are simply assumed to be there. If your product lacks these, users will notice immediately and question its credibility.

💡 Example from 3rd Brain: Setting due dates for tasks. Every productivity tool has this—it’s not groundbreaking, but it’s necessary to meet user expectations.

🥩 The Crave-Worthy Steak: Features That Users Desire (What users actively ask for and value highly)

Some features are highly requested—the ones users explicitly say they want. These are the features that deepen engagement and make your product feel richer.

💡 Example from 3rd Brain: “I want to add context to my tasks, attach images, or categorize my lists.” These aren’t table-stakes, but they create a more compelling product experience.

🍰 The Cake: Surprise & Delight Features (The magic that differentiates great products)

Then, there’s cake—the features that make your product feel magical. These aren’t just about solving pain points—they’re about delivering unexpected joy and differentiating your product from the competition.

This is where truly innovative products shine. Think of how Apple always has a “one more thing” moment—their success isn’t just in meeting expectations, but in delivering surprises users didn’t even know they wanted.

💡 Example from 3rd Brain: Our Brain Dump feature. Instead of manually organizing thoughts, users can quickly capture messy ideas and let AI structure them into actionable items. Users didn’t ask for this exactly, but it solved an underlying problem in an intuitive, delightful way.

The “Faster Horse” Misconception in User Research

You’ve probably heard the (misattributed) Henry Ford quote:

Some bad product leaders use this as an excuse to ignore user research. But here’s the reality:

✅ User research isn’t just about asking users what they want—it’s about uncovering the real problem.

✅ Users may say they want “steak,” but great product teams bake them “cake” by solving the root issue in a better way.

Great products go beyond direct user requests—they solve problems in unexpected, delightful ways.

Building a Balanced Product Meal

At 3rd Brain, we use this food framework to balance our product roadmap. Every feature we build is categorized as Milk, Veggies, Carbs, Steak, or Cake—ensuring that we always deliver a well-rounded, thoughtful product experience.

Next time you’re prioritizing product features, ask yourself:

👉 Are you just serving more steak, or are you baking a delightful cake?

Would love to hear—how do you think about feature prioritization in your products? Let’s discuss! 🚀

If you’re in a relationship, and want to try 3rd Brain, your first month is on me.