Beyond Feature-Focused: Rethinking Product Team Organization

You don’t have to organize your product team by product feature.

It’s a perfectly acceptable method, but it’s not the best fit for every situation.

1. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴.
   When you have a PM aligned to a feature, they’re highly unlikely to suggest killing that feature. It makes the PM devoted to the feature instead of the product as a whole.
2. 𝘐𝘵 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵.
   It assumes that the PM who owns a feature will be able to direct their resources to the strategic priorities of the business. The problem is: this very often breaks down. Feature teams have to do the work, and often fail, in mapping the features to outcomes.
3. 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘗𝘔 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴-𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥.
   In a PM-owned org, cross-functional leads contribute but aren’t equal owners to the plan. In cross-functionally owned orgs, multiple teams and cross-functional stakeholders contribute.

𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀?

The go-to framework I’ve seen is from Ravi Mehta in Reforge’s Product Leadership course.

In it, he explains that there are two questions to ask:

1. Are teams focused on features or outcomes?
2. Do teams own their metrics or share their metrics?

The answers to these questions maps to the type of product org you have.

I consider them the “2 Dimensions of Product Org Design.”

When you answer each, you end up in one of the following 4 categories:

• 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿: This is when the PM has sole ownership over a metric and is responsible for driving it.
• 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿: This is when the PM is focused on a metric (vs a feature) but does not solely own it.
• 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿: This is when the PM has sole ownership over a feature.
• 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿: This is when the PM is focused on a single feature but does not solely own it.

None is “better” than the other.

𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

P.S. Want more guidance deciding what’s best for you?

I share a tactical guide in this piece.