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.