Feedback from your users might lead you to consider adding a new product line for example. To do that, you need a bigger product team \u2013 to make sure they can cope with the increased workload. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To continue growing, you have to make sure that your product can support its growing user base. And you have to do this without any drop-off in quality. It’s even more important if your company is experiencing hypergrowth<\/a>. In that case, it’s vital to prevent your team from burning out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, there are dangers in scaling too fast. But you should begin the scaling process as early as you can. Otherwise, your team will have more work than they can handle, and this will seriously hamper their productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, we know why<\/em> you want to scale your product team. But, what kind of challenges will you face while doing it? Well, the bigger a team gets, the harder it can be to keep everyone coordinated. Here are a few reasons for that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Why? First, large product teams generally have to deal with many products and features. They will face competing priorities, handle large amounts of data, and use a range of disparate tools and systems. This can lead to disconnected processes and even to silos developing within a team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, larger teams have a wider range of skills, specialties, experiences, and outlooks. On a product team, you’ll usually have UX designers, development teams, a product manager, and a QA engineer. There may also be a project manager, marketing strategists, and graphic designers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This diversity is a good thing. But each of these team members will approach ideation and project management differently. It can be tricky to get everyone working as a close unit. It gets even more complicated as new team members join an existing team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plus, in large teams, unanimous decisions aren\u2019t possible all the time. There may be arguments about the best course of action, or the best tool to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big teams can struggle to come together around the key goal (to deliver a great product to your customers). In short, even with more people to handle the growing workload, product quality can take a hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another issue is \u2013 expanding business has shifting requirements. The team setup that works for you now might not be the same in a year\u2019s time. So you have to try to forecast future needs and build some flexibility into the team. That means hiring for quality, not only for quantity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It can also be difficult to generate a shared sense of company culture in bigger teams. You have to ensure the team is cohesive, even with new hires or restructured roles. It\u2019s vital to make the right decisions about how you communicate and collaborate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s talk about some strategies to combat these issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scaling a product team isn\u2019t a walk in the park. But, with the right strategies in place, you can make the expansion a lot smoother. As promised, here are eight ways to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A strong team structure is key when it comes to organizational growth. Yes, rapid growth comes with a lot of risk for your business. But you can mitigate this (and preserve product quality) with good team management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everyone on the product team must be crystal clear on their own responsibilities. When people know exactly what\u2019s expected of them, they can get the task done faster. There\u2019s no need to ask extra questions or wait for the team leader to respond. And everyone has ownership and accountability for their tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Team members also need to have a good awareness of what their colleagues are doing. This way, you can prevent any confusing overlaps and duplicated work. Plus, nobody will feel like someone\u2019s stepping on their toes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You don\u2019t want two people working on the same product feature at the same time. Clarifying team responsibilities also helps you uncover any gaps in your operations. By dividing up tasks and roles, you\u2019ll be able to see where key skills or personnel are missing. This gives you a better idea of who you need to hire to help your product team operate at its best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n TL;DR<\/strong>: help everyone get clear on their responsibilities. Make sure everyone knows who\u2019s working on what and what the expectations are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If poorly managed, rapid growth can lead to a particular resource used up too fast on a single product area. This will delay production elsewhere while you wait for replenishments to arrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It can also cause different teams to fight over the same resources, which disrupts teamwork and may affect collaboration in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, how can you prevent these problems? It\u2019s vital to streamline and optimize<\/a> your resources. You need to ensure you always know exactly what\u2019s available and who needs it. The right software can make all the difference to this task. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, you might use a cloud ERP<\/a> platform to keep track of your resources. Enterprise resource planning tools usually have intelligent workflows and project management capabilities. This means that team members can also log in and check resource availability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Canny’s enterprise feedback management software<\/a> can also help you best allocate your resources. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n On top of this, you could consider using organization tools such as shared calendars<\/a>. This will help you to manage access to resources. Tools like this make communication much easier and prevent any potential clash. <\/p>\n\n\n\n TL;DR<\/strong>: optimize your resources. There are many tools that can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It may sound obvious, but communication is crucial for rapid scaling of a product team. This is because it is crucial for good team relationships and smooth collaboration, as well as also being useful for delegating tasks and checking in on progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regular communication helps to foster a sense of community. It also promotes transparency. Managers can share goals and updates with everyone involved, no matter how big the team is. That way, you’re keeping all colleagues in the loop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As your product team grows, communication will become more complicated. You can resolve this by using enhanced communication channels. But which ones should you choose? Think about how your team works, and which technology would make the most sense for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s an example. Stop relying on clunky email threads to discuss everything. Instead, you could introduce chat platforms such as Slack. Missive<\/a> is a great email tool we use \u2013 we can have internal conversations just under an email thread.<\/p>\n\n\n These tools make communication clearer, easier, and more specific. They allow your team to fire quick questions and thoughts at one another. They also allow for unrelated discussions to break off into separate threads when necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make sure that you don\u2019t overburden your team with too many check-ins. It\u2019s easy to book your calendar with calls and feel busy. But it\u2019ll get very hard to get any work done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, some companies are choosing to cancel all meetings<\/a>. And many schedule no calls\/meetings weeks<\/a> for focused work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n TL;DR<\/strong>: communication is important. But it\u2019s all about balance. Overcommunication exists, and it\u2019s unproductive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a few approaches to project and product management. Agile and Waterfall methods are two of the most popular ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neither is better than the other. But each works better for certain teams, projects, and timelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re scaling a product team, Agile might be better. It\u2019s fast and flexible, which is ideal when you\u2019re scaling. It gives your developing team the scope to figure out how they work best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, the right tools can be a massive help here. Good business management software<\/a> can help you manage projects in an agile way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also reduces many of the risks associated with Agile. For example, with access to real-time data, you can spot problems early. This allows your team to pivot in a different direction before issues arise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another type of Agile methodology that you can use is called Scrum. This involves splitting the team up when it becomes unwieldy. Oversized teams<\/a> are often inefficient and not great at communicating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scrum puts emphasis on regular feedback, continuous learning and adaptability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When using Scrum methodology, you divide work and assign it to small teams (3-9 people). They meet regularly to discuss current tasks and any roadblocks. There\u2019s also a Scrum master who helps to remove these obstacles to ensures team efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scrum\u2019s focused on collaboration and uncovering problems. This makes it a particularly useful methodology for complex projects and fast-paced environments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n TL;DR<\/strong>: when scaling a product team, Agile method is your best bet. If your Agile team gets hard to manage, turn to Scrum to split it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A time of growth is also a time of learning and development. It\u2019s especially important to take note of lessons learned as your product team grows. For example, let\u2019s say a lack of resources led to a delay. Was it because of poor communication or poor forecasting? Find out what happened, and improve your processes going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making changes isn\u2019t always straightforward. It\u2019s all too easy for product teams to become set in their ways. Once they find a formula or dynamic that works, it can be difficult to shake things up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s important for leaders to explain why<\/em> changes are necessary. You should also highlight the benefits of upskilling and training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you emphasize learning and development, your team becomes more open to new ideas, members, and processes. This makes product management and product development more flexible and dynamic. It also gives your team structure the flexibility to expand without issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n TL;DR:<\/strong> promote a culture of constant learning. Take notes of lessons along your product development journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you only have a few people working on a product, quality assurance is easy. Everyone focuses only on the product and invests in it. But, as your team grows, this focus often gets diluted. Team members\u2019 attention deflects to other products and processes. Or it gets diffused throughout a larger team. That makes it easy for quality to drop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plus, when your business is new, the product may not be particularly complex. But, as you start to add more features or new product lines, it\u2019s harder to keep on top of quality. To make sure quality doesn\u2019t suffer as your development team expands, you should focus on quality assurance (QA). Bring in QA processes<\/a> and emphasize their importance at all times. It\u2019s worth hiring QA specialists or upskilling existing team members for this task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n TL;DR: watch the quality. Invest in additional QAs if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your product processes must integrate well with your marketing platforms and strategies. If not, you’ll experience problems. This disconnect could have a big effect on both your product and customer experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, marketers will face problems while relaying customer needs to the product team. And the product team won\u2019t be able to feed things such as product unique selling points (USPs) back to marketing. That\u2019s not efficient for your team or your customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What are the challenges of scaling a team?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n
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Eight strategies for scaling a product team<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Clear team responsibilities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
2. Streamlined resource allocation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
3. Enhanced communication channels<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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4. Agile, Waterfall, and Scrum project management <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Scrum<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
5. Constant learning and development<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
6. Quality assurance processes prioritization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
7. Cross-functional integration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n