Impact-First Product Teams: Aligning Goals with Business Success
Dec 5, 2024
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In this engaging discussion, Matt LeMay, an expert in aligning product teams with business success, dives into the concept of impact-first product management. He shares insights on how teams can connect their daily work to larger business objectives, especially in challenging economic climates. LeMay warns against low-impact work that can derail progress and discusses effective goal-setting practices. With actionable strategies for fostering resilient teams, he emphasizes the importance of prioritizing measurable outcomes over mere best practices.
Product teams must prioritize measurable business impact over following industry best practices to ensure alignment with company goals.
Setting clear, impact-driven objectives fosters accountability and helps product teams avoid low-impact work that complicates operations.
Deep dives
Prioritizing Business Impact
Product managers should prioritize measurable business impact above all else to ensure the long-term success of their teams and organizations. Many industry leaders and influencers promote the idea of following 'best practices' for product management, which can create a false sense of security. However, the reality is that tech professionals must genuinely understand and respond to their company’s commercial needs. Failing to do so puts product teams in a vulnerable position, as their contributions may not be justifiable when budget reviews come around.
Setting Goals Aligned with Company Objectives
It's essential for product teams to set their goals closely aligned with the overarching goals of the company. When teams know precisely what they are trying to achieve, they are better equipped to make informed decisions that contribute to the company’s success. For instance, one team working in fintech discovered they needed to upgrade a certain number of single product users to multi-product users for a specific revenue goal. This exercise of establishing clear goals fosters accountability and ensures that efforts translate directly into measurable business success.
Keeping Impact Central in Every Step
Ensuring that impact remains at the forefront of every decision and project step is vital for product teams. When risk arises due to abstraction and removal from core objectives, teams can lose sight of their purpose, leading to ineffective products. A focus on impact levels can shift conversations from procedural debates to actionable outcomes aimed at achieving specific goals. For example, a team tasked with increasing sign-up rates found renewed motivation and direction when held accountable to an impact-driven objective set by leadership.
Avoiding the Low-Impact Death Spiral
Low-impact work can lead to a detrimental cycle where teams engage in trivial tasks that do not align with company goals, complicating operations instead of streamlining them. As teams opt for easy, low-stakes projects, they may inadvertently create a fragmented product structure that hinders overall effectiveness. To combat this low-impact death spiral, teams need to have honest discussions about their objectives and the implications of their work. By aligning their efforts with genuine business impact, product teams can avoid unnecessary complications and position themselves as integral parts of the organization's success.
What does it mean to lead with impact in a world of uncertainty, ambiguity, and endless best practices? In this compelling episode of Rocketship.FM, we explore how product teams can directly tie their work to measurable business success, ensuring alignment with company goals while resisting the low-impact work that often derails progress.
Drawing from the soon-to-be-released book Impact First Product Teams, our guest shares actionable insights on setting meaningful team goals, keeping impact at the forefront of every step, and avoiding the pitfalls of "low-impact death spirals." Whether you're a product manager navigating tricky trade-offs or a leader seeking clarity in your team’s contributions, this episode offers a blueprint for building resilient, results-oriented product teams.
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