Product Management
A Framework for Scaling product teams
October 9, 2024
The people, processes, and systems that make up a product organization change radically as you go through the stages of a company. A scaled organization isn’t just about increasing the size but about changing the focus and makeup of the organization as the company’s focus and needs change.
These changes are not only driven by how large a company is. A young 500-person single-product company that hasn’t solved its market has much different scaling problems than a similar-sized older company multi-product company that hasn’t introduced a new product in years. This is true even if both expect the same revenue and employee growth.
For purposes of scale, I think about three company stages. Invention, Craft, and Optimization.
In the Invention phase, the company is an idea trying to prove that it can exist. The company doesn’t know what signals to pay attention to. An Inventing company will change directions quickly as it hones in on what the company will be. The people need to be flexible. The processes need to be...