The Types of Product Team Organizational Structures
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.