How can I align my product and marketing teams?

This interview is part of Kameleoon's Expert FAQs series, where we interview leaders in data-driven CX optimization and experimentation. Aditi Gupta is a growth-focused product manager with experience in SaaS and ecommerce. Her expertise spans product-led growth, trial experiences, product onboarding, and monetization strategies. She is a Senior Product Manager at Thomson Reuters, focused on digital growth.

,

How do you design a product or marketing team from the ground up for collaboration?

Here’s what I learned about building teams for collaboration from being part of initial product, innovation, and growth teams at various companies;

1. Teams should be cross-functional. Team members should be cross-functional subject matter experts (product, design, marketing, development, business) who can contribute based on their areas of expertise. These cross-functional teams should be assembled based on business objectives or customer problems.
2. Teams need clear goals. Teams should have clear goals which align to companies goals. This helps team members lean into a new way of working and helps break silos by working towards a shared goal. It also helps improve employee motivation as these team goals can be tied to their performance and appraisals.
3. Teams need a high level of trust. If cross-team collaboration is new to an organization, team members should be given a safe place to share ideas. This provides psychological safety for employees and helps build a high-trust environment within the team. Even in companies with high cross-team collaboration, building trust among team members early on helps enable collaboration.

What role do metrics play in aligning teams?

Metrics foster a shared understanding of the current state of things and highlight the goals that teams should prioritize. Metrics unite team members around a common objective and help eliminate bias, promoting transparency in reporting and tracking performance. By aligning efforts based on metrics, teams can collaborate effectively and work towards shared success.

Is there an ideal team structure for cross-functional alignment?

The ideal team structure varies based on factors such as the type of problem the team is solving, the type of organization, and the team's goals. But based on my observations, teams should be kept small (around 6 to 10 people), team members should bring different skill sets, and there should be representation from all teams who need to make an impact. 

Behaviorally these team members should be self-starters, open to new ways of working, and comfortable with ambiguity and change.

How can experimentation be implemented cohesively across teams??

,

I always maintain that an experimentation program should be tied to the overall company goals. This helps to make sure different teams are not launching competing experiments.

Aditi Gupta

Senior Product Manager at Thomson Reuters

,

Based on my experience, the following strategies can be effective:  

Establish a cross-team meeting: Initiate regular meetings where different teams can share their experimentation plans, particularly in the initial stages. This reduces redundancies, promotes collaboration, and fosters an environment of information sharing.

Create an experimentation roadmap: Not all teams can run experiments simultaneously due to limited experimentation tools and audience sizes. Developing an experimentation roadmap helps prioritize which experiments should take precedence. This ensures resources are allocated efficiently and aligned with strategic objectives.

Standardized documentation: Lastly, there should be standard documentation for experiment plans, methodologies, and outcomes to create a centralized knowledge repository. This helps teams learn from past experiments and avoid duplicating efforts.

What rituals or processes are needed to strengthen coordination between marketing and product teams?

Rituals and processes vary based on company type, remote or hybrid approach, and team size. But there are a few things that I always implement for the teams I lead;

1. Weekly team meetings. Team members should be cross-functional subject matter experts (product, design, marketing, development, business) who can contribute based on their areas of expertise. These cross-functional teams should be assembled based on business objectives or customer problems.
2. Monthly/biweekly metrics check-in. Teams should have clear goals which align to companies goals. This helps team members lean into a new way of working and helps break silos by working towards a shared goal. It also helps improve employee motivation as these team goals can be tied to their performance and appraisals.
3. Stakeholder alignment discussions: If cross-team collaboration is new to an organization, team members should be given a safe place to share ideas. This provides psychological safety for employees and helps build a high-trust environment within the team. Even in companies with high cross-team collaboration, building trust among team members early on helps enable collaboration. 

Tools like Miro and Mura can also help you run workshops and brainstorm sessions when working remotely. These tools have helped me build a shared understanding of problems, record ideas, plans, and next steps. They also help build visibility of roles, responsibilities, and timelines associated with work, as everything is tracked in one place—so they act as a source of truth.

Aditi, you’ve lived in 3 countries and managed products in 10+ countries. What has your experience taught you about building products for global markets?

1. Software is built by humans. You need to collaborate internally with your cross-functional partners to ship a product—involve design, analytics, business partners, developers, and local partners. You must take everyone along on the journey leading up to a product launch. Pro tip—spend time building internal cross-functional connections. These go a long way in helping you get your work done.
2. Get to know your user. You need to be customer-focused when creating a product for a new market. You need to understand their use cases and should have a level of understanding of local nuances.
3. Platform vs. custom build. You will often face this dilemma, especially when expanding a successful product into a new market or country. Having done this a couple of times, I have learned that every new country you enter has its own regulations and requirements, so a one-fits-all approach doesn't work. You will need customization. But custom builds are a deterrent to scaling. The platform approach works well, but there should be room for customization if you take this approach.