The tragedy of the commons is a situation where individuals or groups using a public or a shared resource (also called a common) act selfishly without worrying about the consequences and in doing so, end up hurting it. In the context of a banking product it can manifest when multiple stakeholders have access to and can influence the product, but may act in their self-interest to the detriment of the product’s overall health and sustainability. This is more prevalent than what we observe & acknowledge.

Let us look at the stakeholders, and what they do:

1. Product Manager
The product manager is responsible for the strategy and roadmap of the banking product. They have a vested interest in the product’s long-term success, but they may also be driven by short-term goals or pressures to please various stakeholders, including leadership.

2. Engineering and Support
The engineering team maintains the product and ensures its functionality and security. They are responsible for addressing technical debt, fixing bugs, and implementing new features. The support team ensures its smooth execution when it is being consumed.

3. Organizational Leadership
Leadership represents the seniors / management of the organization that the product belongs to. They may push for aggressive growth targets and quick returns on investment, which could encourage the product manager to prioritize short-term gains over long-term sustainability.

4. Consumers
Consumers are the actual end-users of the product and may want latest features, better performance, and lower costs without considering the technical constraints and potential risks involved.

5. Other stakeholders
These could be other departments within the bank with a direct or an indirect stake in the product (e.g., compliance, audit, legal, infrastructure, etc.) may have their own priorities and may demand changes or features that don’t align with the product’s roadmap, or causes deviations and delays in achieving the end-state of the product.

The tragedy of the commons in this scenario occurs when all stakeholders acts in their own self-interest without considering the collective impact on the product’s long-term sustainability. This can result in a situation where the product’s quality deteriorates, the new features are delayed, security vulnerabilities emerge, and overall customer satisfaction declines.

To mitigate this, effective communication, collaboration, and a shared understanding of the product’s long-term goals are essential. The product manager should balance short-term demands with the product’s long-term health, and stakeholders should consider the consequences of their requests on the product being viable. They all should epitomize a collaborative ecosystem where they positively impact the product’s health and sustainability. The questions is, are the organizations ready, to address the tragedy?