Managing Product Management: Empowering Your Organization to Produce Competitive Products and Brands

SUMMARY

The concept of the cross-functional team is not unfamiliar to companies. Such teams are used all the time, and we know they can be highly effective. However, running the business of the product requires a different level of governance. While senior leadership teams generally guide cross-functional groups to work on “product projects,” they do not typically charter a cross-functional product team that operates as an autonomous business team.

The team structure defined in this chapter is logical and reasonable. The challenge is to have a cross-functional senior leadership team (or a Product Management Governance Board) that will charter and sponsor this work structure inside the organization. Smaller companies do this without even thinking ...