Turn bugs into features

When you turn bugs into features, the things you thought you were errors, constraints, liabilities about your product, could actually become selling points.

👋 Hey, it’s Wes. Welcome to my newsletter on managing up, leading teams, and standing out as a high performer. To level up faster, join my course on Executive Communication & Influence. → UPDATE: The Sept and Nov cohorts are the last cohorts of the year.

I originally published a version of this essay in May 2020. Enjoy.

Read time: 4 minutes

In an ideal situation, marketing and product teams talk to each other. What gets built is something people want because marketing is built into the DNA of the product.

But in reality, marketers are put in a tight spot. Your CEO comes to you and says, “We have a product launch coming up. Here it is. We need you to market it and make people want this.”

You’re thinking, “I wish you had looped me in earlier… If it had this feature, or that feature, it would be a lot easier to market.”

But it doesn’t have those things. And at this stage, you can’t change the product.

So what do you do? Turn bugs into features.

What are bugs? How do you turn them into features?

In software development, a bug is an error, problem, or unintended flaw. When you get an error message, or something won’t load like it should—those are bugs.

Bugs are negative. The running inside joke is engineers will claim a bug is actually a feature.

That’s not necessarily true with software… But luckily in marketing and positioning, we actually can turn bugs into features. The best marketers and brands do this regularly.

When you turn bugs into features, the things you thought you were errors, constraints, liabilities about your product, could actually become selling points.

It’s low cost and high benefit to turn bugs into features

Turning bugs into features is a frame shift.

The goal is to see your own product with fresh eyes. Features that you thought were initially bad might end up being what you emphasize. Those features might be perfect for a different kind of customer or in a specific scenario.

Instead of having a knee-jerk reaction and prematurely rushing to change your product, you can save hundreds of hours by working with what you already have.

You can show customers (and realize yourself) that X feature is actually exactly what certain customers needed all along. By doing this, you increase perceived value and become more prized in your customers’ mind.

Here are three examples:

Avis: Turning #2 into the winner

In the 1960s, Avis was the #2 car rental brand and Hertz, their competitor, was #1. Back then, it was blasphemy to market anything but being #1 in your category.

But Avis turned the fact that they were #2 from a bug into a feature. They messaged that #1 brands don’t try as hard. But because Avis was #2, they’d go the extra mile for you. This caught customers’ attention and built trust in Avis.

Ugly fruit: Turning defects into selling points

One-fifth of all fruit and vegetables are thrown out because of small imperfections. This causes a lot of waste. So a French supermarket turned a bug into a feature:

They marketed ugly fruit as quirky, irreverent, interesting. This gave customers a story to tell when their friends came over and saw this weird looking apple or funky looking banana.

They repositioned a bug as a feature. It turns out, the ugly fruit was such a hit that it sold out faster than normal fruit.

Simplehuman: Turning trash cans into status symbols

If you think your category is boring, think about trying to market a trash can. Except Simplehuman, the high-end trash can company, turned a category that was completely utilitarian, into a design-driven, luxury experience. Some of their trash cans sell for over $300 and they have a cult following.

NOTE: When I first wrote this in 2020, the trash cans were $150. I just went on their website and the two items I clicked on were both $300. Inflation is real.

Own the frame

Turning bugs into features is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to create a frame shift. Whatever you do, make it intentional.

If you’re going to do something anyway, frame it as an intentional choice. Frame it as a selling point, a prize the customer gets to have, a thoughtful decision, a thing you’re proud of that benefits your customer. There are tons of opportunities to turn bugs into features in your daily work and life.

Bug 🚫: “This sucks because there are major quality control issues...”
Feature ✅: “These ceramics are hand-made, so each piece is unique and will have minor differences.”

Bug 🚫: “I don’t want to do X. I don’t enjoy it.”
Feature ✅: “I could do X, but you mentioned wanting me to focus on Y because [why it’s more highly-leveraged].”

Bug 🚫: “This product is too basic. It doesn’t offer enough features.”
Feature ✅: “We do one thing and one thing only: X. This lightweight solution is for folks who don’t want bells and whistles.

When you feel frustrated by the product you have to market, think about how you can turn a bug into a feature.

Is your product “too simple” compared to competitors? Maybe simplicity is exactly the value proposition that a specific type of customer is looking for.

Or vice versa. If your product is “too complicated” compared to your competitors, maybe there are customers who want a comprehensive, heavy duty product.

Ask yourself:

1. What’s the thing you think you have to hide about your product? Is it something you can emphasize instead?

2. When you have a constraint, don’t automatically think, “We need to gloss over this or we need to downplay it.”

3. Turn bugs into features: The things you feel are a setback, could be the very things that makes your product stand out.

Thanks for being here, and I’ll see you in two weeks on Wednesday at 8am ET.

Wes

PS If you enjoyed this post, here are ways to go deeper:

• To get my next blog post, join my email list here

• Learn more about 1:1 coaching to sharpen your executive presence

• Improve your ability to sell your ideas, gain buy-in, and increase your impact in my 2-day workshop. Over 2,300 tech operators have taken this course, and you’ll learn alongside mid-career operators from Netflix, Stripe, Meta, Figma, Anthropic, etc. → Save your spot

---

✨ Course update: New November cohort is now open

I’m excited to share that I just opened a new November cohort—this will be the last cohort of the year.

This is the first time I’ve had two cohorts open at once (Sept and Nov). Since the course is live, I often hear folks ask if there’s another option for workshop dates due to scheduling conflicts. Hopefully having more dates is helpful as you plan the back half of your year. (Also, how is it already mid-August?)

I’m planning to run significantly fewer cohorts in 2027 because of an exciting new project I’ll share more about soon that will take up most of my bandwidth. In the meantime, I’m tentatively thinking there will be two cohorts next year. This means there’s fewer opportunities to experience this intensive, condensed experience for yourself and your team.

Speaking of teams, the only discount available is $100 off for teams of 5+ people. In each cohort, there are multiple teams who take the course together, including folks from Shopify, Meta, Atlassian, Canva, etc. Hit reply and I can share more.

If you’ve heard great things about the workshop, I’m here to tell you those things are true. :] To date, over 2,300 tech operators have taken this course with 942 reviews and 4.6 stars.

Are you wondering if the course is right fit for you? Check out student reviews and course details here.