Another excerpt from my book. In these excerpts, we will cover advanced team structure topics. They will help you define and manage your product development team at a high level. In these articles, I talk about:

• Team structure spreadsheet
• Layoff/Downsizing
• CTO + CPO
• Internationalization
• Outsourced team
• Tuckman’s model
• Dependencies between teams
• Should we have a dedicated innovation team?
• Should we have a team dedicated to fixing bugs?
• Business Units
• Financial bonus
• What makes a group of people behave like a team?

Team structure spreadsheet

Throughout my career, I have used a spreadsheet to help me manage the product development team. This spreadsheet is organized by teams and functions, as shown in the following images.

Spreadsheet with product teams.

Spreadsheet with structural teams.

I use colors to identify professionals in different situations. TBH stands for “to be hired,” indicating an open position; “New” represents people who joined in the last month, and “Leaving” refers to individuals who have requested to leave. Putting it in a spreadsheet allows me to generate some statistics.

Team statistics.

Spreadsheets (Google Sheets or MS Excel) allow us to create tabs. I make a tab for each month, giving me a month-to-month snapshot of the team’s evolution.

If you’d like, you can copy this sample spreadsheet I share with my clients as a starting point for them to create their spreadsheets.

Digital transformation and product culture

This article is another excerpt from my newest book “Digital transformation and product culture: How to put technology at the center of your company’s strategy“, which I will also make available here on the blog. So far, I have already published here:

• About the book
• Part 1: Concepts
  • Chapter 1: The so-called digital transformation – Project and Product
  • Chapter 2: Uncertainty and digital transformation
  • Chapter 3: Types of company
  • Chapter 4: Type of company vs digital maturity
  • Chapter 5: Business models
  • Chapter 6: Agile, digital and product culture
• Part 2: Principles
  • Chapter 7: Deliver early and often – Measuring and managing the productivity – Case study: Dasa Group – Case study: Itaú Unibanco
  • Chapter 8: Focus on the problem – O Famoso Discovery de Produto – Why the “business demands => IT implements” model does not work – Case study: Magazine Luiza
  • Chapter 9: Result delivery – Outsource or internal team? – Case study: Centauro
  • Chapter 10: Ecosystem mindset
• Part 3: Tools
  • Chapter 11: Product Vision – Product vision examples
  • Chapter 12: Product Strategy
  • Chapter 13: Team Structure – Structuring effective product development teams – Structural teams – Team structure spreadsheet

Workshops, coaching, and advisory services

I’ve been helping companies and their leaders (CPOs, heads of product, CTOs, CEOs, tech founders, and heads of digital transformation) bridge the gap between business and technology through workshops, coaching, and advisory services on product management and digital transformation.

Digital Product Management Books

Do you work with digital products? Do you want to know more about managing a digital product to increase its chances of success, solve its user’s problems, and achieve the company objectives? Check out my Digital Product Management books, where I share what I learned during my 30+ years of experience in creating and managing digital products:

• Digital transformation and product culture: How to put technology at the center of your company’s strategy
• Leading Product Development: The art and science of managing product teams
• Product Management: How to increase the chances of success of your digital product
• Startup Guide: How startups and established companies can create profitable digital products