The Most Important Work: Discovery & Delivery
Most of us by now are probably familiar with Marty Cagan's well-referenced book "Inspired" and the pitfalls of the waterfall approach in product development and how he compared that to a more preferable approach known as agile.
While there have been improvements in the way we collaborate together as product teams since his book was written in 2008 I'm still seeing a similar and just as stifling pattern in numerous startups, spanning diverse sizes, stages of funding, and industries. The pattern that I’ve observed is our inability to efficiently collaborate with one another cross-functionally with research and delivery as the primary driving force behind roadmap and sprint planning initiatives. Marty talked about teams needing to be positioned to be in a constant state of learning (discovery) and then needing to be able to act (delivery) on those learnings.
I believe the less-than-optimal structuring of product teams often happens unintentionally when teams are formulating early in a startup's life cycle. Early members are understandably thinking about the formation of their organization through the lens of their respective background (typically engineering, finance, or product). This team formation tends to start with significant consideration from an engineering or finance perspective and then gradually extends its attention towards the product’s interface —and the users that engage with it. Since the essence of what we sell is customer-centric solutions (user experiences), my argument is that product teams should work inward from the product's users to inform their roadmap, with user research findings leveraged against business goals as the primary catalyst.
Instead of considering a feature or product as the final destination, framed through the lens of product management or engineering, we should dedicate a continual effort and concentration to user behavior and correlating OKRs that measure our team's progress towards specific business goals. We ought to gain real-time insights from users, validate and incorporate alterations as we progress, and allow these insights to shape our roadmap. These insights should be continually leveraged against the organization’s business goals.
Alternatively, imagine constructing a luxury hotel (rather than a digital experience). The success of the hotel relies on delivering a remarkable guest experience. Now envision commencing our endeavor not with architects and interior designers who craft the experience but with builders and city planners. Imagine relying heavily on builders and city planners throughout the endeavor, only involving architects and interior designers at the very end to add the final touches. Visualize the compromised guest experience outcomes and superfluous discussions as we consider the aspects least significant to our guests before finally addressing their most vital needs. Picture the constraints enforced by the time spent with builders and finance, limiting our ability to tailor the user experience to guest desires.
To be clear, this doesn't dismiss the important collaboration between city planners, and builders as a guest-centered experience is crafted. The emphasis lies in where the team directs its focus at the project's onset and what propels its roadmap towards creating a triumphant luxury hotel. The aim is strategic efficiency from the outset, maintaining customer orientation and OKRs as the driving force instead of relying on product management and engineering frameworks, and then finally aiming to align with the customer experience.
Our capability as a product team to systematically unearth and deliver solutions relevant to our user’s needs and that are leveraged by business goals marks the distinction between excellence and mediocrity in both products and teams. Exceptional products and UX don’t materialize through feature-driven approaches spearheaded by siloed stakeholders, product managers, engineers, or designers. They flourish when entire product teams (stakeholders, product, engineering, design) possess the discovery & delivery mindset. These best-in-class teams have rituals and frameworks that centrally house insights from users, and harmonize those insights with business objectives. Only then are they able to consistently execute on collective learnings while measuring their progress and effectiveness along the way.