Cross-Functional Teams: A Product Manager's Nirvana

Levent Gurses, President, Movel@gursesl

MVP Conference 2015

Levent Gurses

@gursesl

Developer, speaker, and entrepreneur, Levent is the founder Movel, an enterprise mobility company. He’s engaged in tech communities on mobile and full-stack development across the Mid-Atlantic. Levent holds a BS in Computer Engineering and is a Certified ScrumMaster and Certified Product Owner.

Imagine

Functional Teams

50 days

Business & Market Research

60 days

MarketingUser

Research (Focus

Groups)

40 days

Business Requirem

ents

30 days

Development

90 days 40 days

TestingRelease

20 days

330 days

Too long.

Cross-Functional TeamsBusiness & Market Research

Marketing

User Research

(Focus Groups)

Business Requirem

ents

Development

Testing

Release

Goal: 60 days

Jack Welch

Assume there is a multifunctional business consisting of engineering, marketing, and manufacturing. The business has the best

manufacturing person it has ever had – someone with excellent numbers, who produces high-quality

goods on time:

"But this person won't talk with people in engineering and manufacturing. He won't share

ideas with them, and won't behave in a boundaryless way with them. Now, let's replace this person with someone who may not be quite perfect, but who is a good team player and lifts

the team's overall performance. Maybe the predecessor was working at 100%, but he didn't talk with team members, didn't swap ideas. As a

result, the whole team was operating at 65%. The new manager now is getting 90% or 100%

from the whole total. That was a discovery."

Functional Teams:Welcome to the Matrix

CrossFunctional Teams: Centered Around the Product

Something missing?● Security● Compliance and assurance● Performance testing● Third-party integrations● Device management● Other specialized roles

CrossFunctional Teams:Ver. 2.0.0

Key Benefits● Improved speed of delivery

● Reduction in cycle times

● Increase in speed of feedback

● Improved product stability

● Risk reduction

Other Benefits

● More accurate estimates● Avoiding the “last mile”● Mainline dev puts product managers in charge● Better release planning● True agility● Expand team skillsets● Reduce the “bus factor”

In a single word...

Cross-Functional Teams = True Agility

But. Like anything else in life...

There are some

drawbacks.

● More time required for budgeting

● Distractions

● Some team members dislike working in x-functional teams

● Calculating and balancing the time needed for advisors

● Political and departmental resistance

Cross-functional teams do not work in all domains

and for all projects.

Success Factors

● Design and development of new products

● Choosing and implementing new technologies throughout an organization

● Improving the service-profit chain

● Control product costs

● Tiger teams (Emergencies)

1 IDENTIFY THE RIGHT PROJECT

● Product Management● UX● Engineering● Project Management● Development Management● Quality Assurance● Product Design● Customer Support● Technical writers● Production / Shipping

● Design● Marketing● Advertising● Product Marketing● Marketing Communications● Field Sales● Inside Sales● Sales Engineering● Professional Services● Legal● Accounting

2 ASSEMBLE THE RIGHT TEAM

● Team members must be open-minded and highly motivated to learn and teach● Team members must come from the all needed functional areas● A strong team leader with communication skills and a position of authority is needed● The team must have the authority and the accountability to accomplish the mission● Management must provide resources and support for the team, both moral and

financial● Greater level of communication across all team members is needed

3 EMPOWER THE TEAM

● Create real metrics such as estimates vs. real data● Gather real user feedback and pass on to the entire team● Improve processes for faster, better customer experience

4 MEASURE [FOR] SUCCESS

In closing...

● Cross-functional teams are product-centered

● Not all teams and projects are fit for cross-functional teams

● Communication is key for success

● True agility is the main outcome of cross-functional teams

Thank you

@gursesl

Resources● http://www.movel.co

● http://www.movel.co/events

● http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-functional_team

● http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/cross-functional-team.htm

● http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_30.htm