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.

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