In my experience people are afraid to ask that question. The answer to that question may lead to questions around total addressable market which could cause uppermanagement to question the viability of the product or at least the cost / benefit of having a big development and product management team in the first place.
This is a terribly sad comment on the structure of our society, people worried they might be making something pointless. And the solution is to make sure the people paying for it don't realize.
What were the circumstances that people were afraid like that? For example, was this an in-house development team, or hired consultants? And how did you find out that people were afraid to ask these questions?
Afraid with good reason. I think it's more likely that it would be seen as disrespectful to managment, product, bizdev, etc. who asked for it. That it's challenging their judgement.
