Empowered Product Teams

🕒 Estimated Reading Time: <2 minutes. Time saved 26 minutes 🔥 

💡 Introduction

As we discussed above, the concept of empowered product teams has become increasingly popular. In this episode, Andrew Skoczko, a product leadership coach, shares his insights on what it means to have an empowered product team and how organisations can work towards achieving it. He emphasises the importance of trust, autonomy, and accountability in building strong product teams.

🧠 Defining Empowered Product Teams

Andrew explains that empowered product teams are the result of a trade-off between autonomy and accountability. It is an agreement between teams and leadership, where teams have the freedom to come up with solutions while being accountable for delivering outcomes. Autonomy does not mean a free-for-all, but rather a bounded autonomy within certain constraints. The team is empowered to drive results and make creative decisions within the given boundaries.

🤔 Understanding Autonomy and Trust

Autonomy is often misunderstood as complete freedom to do whatever one wants. However, Andrew clarifies that autonomy within empowered teams means having the freedom to come up with solutions that drive results, while still meeting certain constraints. Trust is a crucial element in empowering teams. Andrew defines trust as choosing to make something you value vulnerable to somebody else's actions. Trust is multidimensional and can be categorised into dimensions such as sincerity, competence, reliability, honesty, and respect.

🤝 Building Trust within Product Organizations

Building trust within product organizations requires effort from both leaders and team members. Leaders need to earn trust by insisting on strong thinking, managing their biases, and not overusing veto power. They should also extend trust by giving up control, creating space for teams to explore ideas, and leading through context rather than control. Celebrating wins and acknowledging mistakes are also important in building trust. Team members, on the other hand, can build trust by externalizing their thinking, bringing stakeholders along for the ride, and giving credit where it is due.

🛣️ The Journey to Becoming a Strong Product Team

Andrew advises against trying to jump straight to an empowered product team without going through the necessary steps. He suggests a deliberate approach that starts with the ability to ship good products. Once the organisation can consistently ship, the focus should shift to collaborative problem-solving and product discovery. Finally, product leadership and strategy come into play. This journey takes time and can range from six months to three to five years, 👀 depending on the size and complexity of the organisation.

🙏 Practical Tips for Organizations

To start the journey towards empowered product teams, organizations should focus on the following:

  1. Shipping products: Ensure the ability to ship products regularly, with a benchmark of at least every two weeks.

  2. Collaborative problem-solving: Encourage cross-functional teams to engage in product discovery and prototyping.

  3. Product leadership and strategy: Develop a clear product vision and strategy, and provide the necessary context for teams to make decisions.

  4. Transforming the relationship: Once credibility and momentum are built, organizations can start making bigger changes in the company-level relationship.

❓️ Conclusion

Building empowered product teams requires a deliberate and gradual approach. Trust, autonomy, and accountability are key elements in creating a strong product organization. By earning and extending trust, leaders and team members can foster a culture of collaboration and innovation. The journey towards becoming an empowered product team takes time, but the rewards are worth it. Organisations that embrace this approach will be better equipped to deliver products that truly matter.

  • "The Thin Book of Trust" by Charles Feldman

  • "Growing Groups into Teams" by Pam Fox Rollin

🔗 Listen to the Original full Episode: here

⏰ Timestamps:

  • 00:00:41 - Podcast Theme and Host Introduction

  • 00:01:21 - Guest Introduction: Andrew Skoczko

  • 00:03:06 - Defining Empowered Product Teams

  • 00:04:47 - Misconceptions About Team Autonomy

  • 00:07:11 - Product Leadership Challenges

  • 00:09:52 - Trust in Product Teams

  • 00:11:15 - Rebuilding Trust Within Teams

  • 00:14:50 - Trust Dynamics Between Leadership and Teams

  • 00:19:33 - Steps to Becoming a Strong Product Team

  • 00:26:49 - Timeline for Organizational Transformation

  • 00:29:12 - Closing Remarks and Credits


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