10 dysfunctions in product teams

From the book Build What Matters

Good evening folks 👋

I have been reading (scanning through and highlighting to be more accurate) a book titled Build What Matters. The book describes a framework to help teams create long term-value for their customers.

As obvious and straightforward this premise might be, product teams can easily loose focus on delivering customer value. Completing features that don’t move the needle, optimising for short business outcomes or overemphasising minor improvements is a common situation in our industry.

The book shares its recipe for real innovation (combining a clear vision centred in the customer with a practical execution strategy) and lists out 10 dysfunctions of product management:

The hamster wheel: Prioritising completing features on time rather than considering their value to customers and impact on revenue.

The counting house: Focusing on internal business metrics like revenue or growth, instead of delivering value to customers.

The ivory tower: Believing to know the customer without actually talking to them.

The science lab: Focusing on measurable but superficial improvements instead of innovation.

The feature factory: Overloading the product with too many features, hindering the user experience.

The business school: Overanalysing ignoring the customer and loosing sight of the bigger business strategy.

The roller coaster: Constantly changing priorities with a short-term focus instead of iterating and making opportunities successful.

The bridge to nowhere: Building for potential user problems without considering current customer needs.

The negotiating table: Trying to please everyone and minimise unhappiness, instead of focusing on customer outcomes.

The throne room: Leaders not letting go of control, failing to drive alignment and prioritise customer outcomes.

My takeaway

While some of the dysfunctions may sound generic a have a cringy ring to their names, I enjoyed reading through them. I would dare to say that true innovation is something that we’ll experience on counted occasions throughout our careers. Through the dysfunctions in the book, the authors manage to get the main idea of the book across: creating a clear customer vision and focusing on delivering value to customers is the recipe to fulfilling product work that actually matters.

Thats’s all for today 🙂
Thanks for reading this far!