Product Team
Product teams are responsible for defining the product and strategy and converting business objectives into product outcomes for stream teams. To deliver on the objectives they define the structure and scope of the Stream Teams aligned with the product and then empower them to deliver using the context of the product vision and strategy. Finally, they coach, support and develop the Stream Teams to ensure they are delivering the right outcomes.
The Team
Core team members
The core members of each Product Team are:
| Role | Skills | Responsibilities |
|---|---|---|
| Product Manager | Product strategy, vision, objectives | Define the objectives for Stream Teams and monitor the progress to ensure they are delivering the right outcomes |
| Research Lead | Research practices, strategy, people management and coaching |
|
| Design Lead | Design practices, strategy, people management and coaching |
|
| Development Lead | Development practices, strategy, people management and coaching |
|
Additional specialists
In addition to the core members, many other roles could be required depending on the needs of your stream. The size of the team should be kept to a minimum, so there needs to be a balance between the team having the skills they need to deliver without any handoffs and the team being too large. The following are some examples of additional specialists that could be required:
- Marketing Lead
- Operations Lead
- Customer Service Lead
- Sales Lead
- Legal Lead
- Finance Lead
How Product Teams work
Shared Values
Defining the core values and principles that enable decentralised decision making.
Structure
Designing the scope, success metrics and structure of the aligned Stream Teams who will create the product.
Strategy
Documenting the product vision, strategy and objectives based on the market, business and customer needs.
Staff
Sourcing, recruiting and onboarding staff onto the Stream Teams.
Skills
Defining the expectations for people in their roles and coaching and developing people to achieve the high standards.
Style
Building an innovation-focused culture, teams are empowered to make decisions and blockers are removed to enable autonomy.
Systems
Documenting the systems that support the product development process and employee performance.