Unravel the complexities of product team organizational structures. Discover the various types, their unique characteristics, and how they influence the dynamics of product development. A deep dive into the world of team structures awaits, offering insights to enhance your business strategy.
There is no one perfect way to structure a product organization within a company.
Product teams are no different
- They tend to vacillate between four different types of structures
- Alignment of structure
- Rules of thumb: closely mirror the partner functions
- Organization by type of product work
- Separate teams based on the type of work they are doing
Organization by Customer
If a product has different types of customers, a common structure is to separate product teams by the customers they build for
- This allows product people to become experts in understanding their customer well to deliver them value
- These organizational structures tend to be very stable in marketplaces, but less so in subscription companies
Organization by Value Proposition:
If a product has different value propositions, a common structure is to separate product teams by those different value props.
- Organization by Initiative: aligning product and engineering around those initiatives can be the least stable because initiatives change frequently or at least on an annual basis
- Mixing and Matching: align the structure between engineering, product, and design as much as possible to the teams work in unison.
