The Story Of Alignment
What happens when it is missing, and how to overcome it
What happens when it is missing, and how to overcome it
As a product company grows, alignment is probably its most significant challenge. One image I have in mind for an ideal culture is of schools of fish moving in perfect coordination and following a choreographed routine.
However, in many cases, it’s more like a group of people rowing a boat together. Still, each person is fighting in a different direction — each department has its own goals, work happens in silos, and communication is impractical.
The goal of the product org within a company is to achieve the business objectives by delivering products that meet the customers’ needs. With minimum alignment, other company parts like marketing and sales lose trust in the product org. On the one hand, they wonder about the product itself (the needs it solves and the business objectives it relates to), and on the other, its launch (when it will be available and in what form).
Without a high level of trust and collaboration, the focus moves to the execution and delivery of new products and features. Marketing push campaigns for new features, Sales claim they must have features X, Y, and Z to close better deals, and the Product org needs help to keep up with the demand and invest in a meaningful discovery process.
What are some warning signs a company might suffer from misalignment?
The positioning of the product and the messaging around it drift from its core vision.
Sales representatives request features that are outside the roadmap.
The product features are not sold and utilized to the extent they can.
The product org releases need a coherent and holistic experience for the customer.
People around mainly ask questions with “when” and not “why” or “why.”
To break this vicious cycle, everyone must get back to the core -
Decide how the company culture can better support and promote trust, collaboration, and alignment. It usually starts with a clear vision and supporting values.
Much like meditation and mindfulness, leadership must be present at the moment and analyze the situation deeply.
Refind the “why” and focus the effort on the “what.” Use frameworks like the 5 Why’s to ensure you do the right thing.
Set the discussions and decisions around impact and priority (as opposed to features and timelines).
Here is a story of how I picture it happening -
“Once we figured out we have minimum alignment between departments and roles, we decided to take a step back.
First, we returned to our transparency and ownership roots and shared the challenge with employees. We invested time in discussing the situation with leaders and individual contributors and found various explanations for what got us here.
Next, we drilled down why it happened and were able to correlate it to the company structure, lack of innovation, and gap in low-level leadership.
Finally, we created new plans and roadmaps and ensured everyone knew the impact we were trying to develop and where our focus should be. With that in mind, actual dates became redundant.”