Revitalizing a cross-functional product organization

The product and engineering teams at every company size have the same goals: positive team health, high-velocity shipping, and strategic execution. Yet we often get in our own way -- from ill-defined roles and responsibilities to toxic communication patterns, to well-meaning but under-equipped managers.

Lara Hogan and Deepa Subramaniam of Wherewithall will candidly share the approaches they took to revitalizing a cross-functional product organization in 9 months. As Engineering and Product leaders, they worked together to diagnose and treat issues holding back design, engineering and product management teams in order to ensure communication flowed better, inter and intra-team dynamics improved and the organization shipped more (and better!) software. As two VP’s who faced these specific challenges and more, Lara and Deepa will cover evidence-based tactics for improving the overall health of your product organization when time is of the essence.

Transcript

1. Revitalizing a cross-functional product organization Deepa Subramaniam @iamdeepa Lara Hogan @lara_hogan
9. Positive team health, 
 high-velocity shipping, and strategic execution.
10. Yet we often get in our own way.
11. Clarify roles and responsibilities Create living product documents
 and processes Lead difficult conversations Demonstrate mindful communications Join forces 1 2 3 4 5
12. Clarify roles and responsibilities
13. Seamless collaboration 
 requires clarity. Who does what, when? “Well, That’s not my job.” “Wait, I already did that.” “Uh, who was supposed to do that?”
14. Lack of role clarity manifests as inertia, 
 chaos or ambivalence.
15. Discovery Design Development Testing and Deployment Post-Deployment and Iteration Product Development Flow
16. Discovery Design Development Testing and Deployment Post-Deployment and Iteration
17. Discovery Design Development Testing and Deployment Post-Deployment and Iteration Product Manager Product Designer Engineer QA
 Engineer Product Manager
18. Discovery Design Development Testing and Deployment Post-Deployment and Iteration Product Manager Product Designer Engineering Manager Data 
 Scientist Engineer QA
 Engineer Product Manager Strategy Engineering
 Lead
20. EM ∩ EL ∩ PM: Understand, own, and
 share the story of “why” Product Manager owns the story of “what” Eng Manager owns the story of “who” Tech Lead owns the story of “how” ∩
21. Product Manager owns the story of “what” Tech Lead owns the story of “how” Product Manager + Tech Lead scope and estimate project work
22. Product Designer Product Manager Business Strategist Data Scientist
23. Defined roles, 
 ratified across teams,
 produce better accountability 
 and higher velocity.
24. Create living 
 product documents and processes
25. Without it, you risk 
 re-inventing the wheel, duplicating efforts and unnecessary disagreement.
26. Product Workflow Documents Meetings Milestones
27. Framing the problem, opportunity, and approach Discovery Documents Meetings Milestones Narrative Doc (aka Spec, PRD) Feature Kickoff “Discovery Complete”
28. Based on the problem, identify solutions Design Documents Meetings Milestones Design Brief Product Review “Design Complete”
29. Build the feature Development Documents Meetings Milestones Technical Plan Architecture Review “Code Complete”
30. Test and ship the feature QA and Deployment Documents Meetings Milestones Test Plan — “Test Complete” Deployment Plan Pre-Deployment Sync “Shipped”
31. Based on how the feature is doing, what next? Post-Deployment and Iteration Documents Meetings Milestones Post-ship 
 Feature Update Post-Ship Sync -- --
32. Re-evaluate the documents, milestones and meetings 
 that will make your product development smoother
33. Use your product processes to benefit you by sharing insights 
 and staying aligned.
34. Lead difficult conversations
36. Amygdalas are threatened by: • Receiving feedback • Causing someone 
 else to freak out • Being kicked out of 
 the cool kids group • Someone else 
 thinking you’re wrong
37. Amygdalas like it when 
 you have a sense of: • Belonging to a group • Progress towards a goal • Choice/Autonomy • Equality or fairness • Certainty/predictability
38. We rarely have models of 
 (or support for) how to have difficult conversations
39. Set ground rules for meetings
40. My fav ground rules: Stay curious Everyone is smart and trying No open phones/laptops Vegas Rules
41. It’s awkward to talk
 about your struggle 
 with another coworker
42. Practice difficult conversations
43. Create an environment to roleplay those conversations
44. Find a great conflict mediator
45. Be mindful when you communicate
46. Poor communication 
 will dilute impact, 
 frustrate employees 
 and result in failure.
47. Mindful communication is ✨magical✨
49. Reflect on the dynamics in the room 1
50. Be aware of your medium
51. Consider the room’s
 power dynamics
52. Is this person in a 
 position to take the action I’m suggesting?
53. Elevate the
 conversation 2
54. Meet transparency with responsibility
55. Assume best intentions 3
56. Practice empathy
57. Listen to learn 4
58. Prepare to be surprised
59. Reflect on the dynamics in the room Elevate the conversation Assume best intentions Listen to learn 1 2 3 4
60. Join forces
61. Disjointed things 
 happen in siloed teams
62. Lead cross-org meetings
63. Answer questions together, publicly
64. Jointly lead meetings
65. Write cross-org emails
66. Roll out information to everyone in tandem.
67. Share context 
 across the board.
68. Celebrate across 
 the board.
69. Our teams saw us coordinating and holding each other accountable
70. Honesty + Candidness Trust + Accountability
71. Join forces with your peer leaders
72. Clarify roles and responsibilities Create living product documents
 and processes Lead difficult conversations Demonstrate mindful communications Join forces 1 2 3 4 5