Building Championship-Level Product Teams: Strategies for Success

Product Team Success

In this episode, Ross Webb, former product leader at Amazon and Just Eat, reveals how successful product organizations mirror championship sports teams through intentional collaboration, defined roles, and productive tension. Five experienced product leaders share their strategies for building and leading high-performing teams.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Creating natural cross-team collaboration
• Building genuine engineering partnerships
• Managing productive tension between teams
• Remote team relationship building
• Designing complementary team structures

Featured Guests:

• Phil Hornby introduces his innovative "3 hats" approach to breaking down silos and encouraging natural collaboration
• Becca Cooke shares insights on creating true engineering partnerships beyond simple delegation
• Brian Flanagan explains how to balance product and engineering relationships through healthy tension
• Katherine Cunliffe reveals strategies for building strong relationships in remote teams
• Mel McVie demonstrates how to build diverse teams that complement each other's strengths

Key Insights:

• The importance of dedicated collaboration time through "office hours"
• How to empower engineers through problem-solving vs prescription
• The distinction between product owning "what" and engineering owning "how"
• Building personal connections in remote environments
• The value of hiring for complementary strengths

Actionable Takeaways:

1. Implement the 3 hats approach to create natural collaboration
2. Create dedicated office hours for cross-team support
3. Focus on problems rather than prescriptive solutions with engineering
4. Prioritize informal connections in remote settings
5. Hire for your blind spots to create stronger collective teams

Join the Top Prods Community: Take your product leadership journey to the next level by joining our community at https://www.top-prods.com. Connect with mentors, access structured guidance, and accelerate your career growth alongside fellow product leaders.

Resources Mentioned:

• Top Prods Community
• 4 Pillars of Product Success Guide

Connect with our guests on LinkedIn to learn more about their approaches to building high-performing product teams.