Transformed

CHAPTER 31Transformation Tactics—Concepts

Once the new product model competencies have been established, people are ready to start using their skills to work on the product concepts.

It's important to recognize that skills like product strategy and product discovery can always be improved. There are always new, emerging techniques and tools, and good product companies are always working to improve.

So, when you work on transformation tactics, you're not aiming for perfection or even excellence; you're aiming for competence, and then through ongoing coaching, you help your people continue to learn and develop.

Note that many of the techniques in this chapter are described in much more detail in the book EMPOWERED.

Product Teams

Team Chemistry

Even if every member of the product team has strong skills, this does not mean that the product team as a whole will work together well. Sometimes, there are personality clashes or other problems. It's important for product leaders to assess the overall chemistry of each team and either coach or shuffle people to get the teams to operate together effectively.

Team Durability

Many companies coming from prior models are used to shuffling people between product teams on an as-needed basis, especially engineers. However, in the product model, while there certainly will be some cases where moving a person temporarily or longer is warranted, such moves are only done judiciously and after careful consideration of unintended consequences—especially ...