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Leading Cross-Functional Teams Ken Norton VP, Products JotSpot, Inc.

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What am I going to talk about • A disjointed set of learnings • What I wish I’d known before • (There will only be two formulas)

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Here’s the good news.

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You have the resources.

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You are completely accountable.

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You are ready to go.

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But…

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You have no authority.

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And everyone is skeptical.

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Why?

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Without sales, nobody would sell. Without engineering, nobody would build. Without support, customers would riot.

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Without product managers?

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Life would be just fine.

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(For a while.)

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Organizational structure: What you are working with

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What you’ve probably learned:

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Functional organization. PM

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Weak matrix. PM

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Strong matrix. PM

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What you actually find.

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The real world. PM

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The reality. • You will not be closely supervised. • Little to no authority will be handed to you. • You will not have direct managerial oversight for the people who work on your stuff. • You will be highly accountable for success (or lack thereof).

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The team: Who you are working with

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7 ± 2 Ideal team size.

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7 ± 2 (That’s the first formula).

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Always trust your instincts.

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If you don’t have the right team, get it.

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There is nothing more important to invest “political capital” on.

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Communicating: How you are working with who you are working with

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There are only three things you need to remember.

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1. “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” (General George Patton)

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2. Communicate to different people in their own language.

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3. Represent the points of view of the people not in the room.

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How to get respect from engineers.

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Clear obstacles. Always take the blame. Ask smart questions. Explain the “why.” Empathize. Bring the donuts.

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How to get respect from sales.

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Know their number. Get on the phone with customers. Make promises so they don’t have to. Help them be creative. Bring the donuts.

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How to get respect from executives.

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Have a vision. Be patient. Know your competition. Make your commitments. Bring the donuts.

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How to get respect from customers.

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Understand what they want. Call them out of the blue. Keep your promises. Take the blame. Bring the donuts.

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A. B. S.

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Always Be Shipping.

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Nothing helps a team become efficient more than a steady release tempo.

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Agile development.

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Can be extremely effective.

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But requires hard work and experience.

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If you do nothing else…

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Have a fifteen minute daily meeting.

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Ask your team three questions: • What have you completed since our last meeting? • What will you have done by tomorrow’s meeting? • What’s standing in your way and how can I help?

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Estimating work.

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Product Manager: “When can you get this done? Today?”

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Engineer: “Well, I think it needs more time.”

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Product Manager: “We need it ASAP. What about tomorrow by end of day?”

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Engineer: “Uh, OK.”

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The right question: “What needs to happen for you to finish, and what can I do to help?”

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Rule of thumb for estimates.

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Likely estimate (L): “How long do you think it will take?”

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Pessimistic estimate (P): “OK, but what’s the longest it could take, accounting for unforeseen roadblocks?”

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Optimistic estimate (O): “What’s the least amount of time required if everything goes well?”

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O + (L x 4) + P 6 What you plan.

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Another rule of thumb for estimates.

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Never assume more than 5 hours of progress per developer per day.