Aligning with Stream Teams
Aligning with Stream Teams refers to the communication and coordination process between product teams and stream teams to ensure that all efforts are strategically aligned with the broader product vision, strategy, and objectives.
Purpose
The purpose of this activity is to ensure a unified direction for the Stream Teams working on different aspects of the product, ensuring that all teams are aligned with the product's goals and timelines.
- Improved Coordination: Ensures that all teams are aligned with the company's goals and timelines.
- Increased Efficiency: Reduces redundancy and enhances the utilisation of resources across teams.
- Better Product Outcomes: Leads to more coherent product development cycles that are responsive to user needs.
Context
Industry Context
Large products require multiple teams working in parallel to build and support the product. Without alignment between these teams, there is a risk of duplication of effort, misalignment of goals, and inefficiencies in resource utilisation. By ensuring that all teams are working towards a common vision and strategy, companies can maximise the impact of their product development efforts.
ZeroBlockers Context
Stream Teams are autonomous and decide on the features they should create to deliver on their objectives. To make high-quality and continuous decisions that are necessary during product development Stream Teams need to be aligned with the overall product vision and strategy. In addition, since Product Teams are accountable for product success, they need to have confidence that the Stream Teams are working on the right things.
| Practice | Description | Benefits | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Planning | A structured process for setting strategic goals and objectives for the upcoming year. |
| Annually |
| Quarterly Objective Setting Meetings | Interactive sessions to collaboratively explore the product vision and strategy, and agree on the Stream Team goals. |
| Quarterly |
| Weekly Product Review | A recurring meeting focused on assessing progress against predefined metrics, rather than reviewing specific work items. |
| Weekly |
| Continuous Transparency | Provide transparent access to the Stream charter, kanban board, research and more. |
| Continuous |
Anti-patterns
- Silos and Isolation: Allowing teams to operate in silos without regard for the overall strategy.
- Overcomplication: Making the strategic alignment process so complex that it becomes a barrier to execution.
- Lack of Transparency: Not sharing strategic objectives, progress, or challenges broadly within the organisation.
Case Studies
Driving Business Transformation with OKRs at FREENOW
How FREENOW utilized OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to shape a high-performance team and drive significant business transformation.
FREENOW
Micro-enterprises
Haier needed to keep pace with the fast changing IOT landscape and they knew centralised deciison making would be too slow.
Haier
Statoil's Shift to Dynamic Forecasting and Planning
How Statoil replaced traditional annual planning with dynamic forecasting to improve forecasting accuracy and enable better future planning.
Statoil (Equinor)
Transforming Engineering Culture with OKRs at Hootsuite
How Hootsuite used OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to drive cultural change and improve the effectiveness of its engineering team.
Hootsuite
Enhancing Digital Banking Experience through OKRs at Chase
How Chase utilized OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to enhance its digital banking experience and drive customer satisfaction.
Chase
