Beyond Features — Chapter IV

Crafting Product Goals and Removing Distractions

Originally published in GoRetro

Changes, changes, and more changes, that’s what Odin Enterprises is doing in the hope of avoiding a tragic fate. After passionate and intense discussions between Ivar and Björn, a new team was born, team Kattegat. Now each team can focus on an audience and help save the business. The question is, will they collaborate, or will they compete against each other?

Lagertha will have to use her experience to set both teams on the track to saving the company while gaining full support from business stakeholders. Surprisingly, Ecbert is supporting all decisions and not blocking anything. Different than before, he isn’t overruling decisions or trying to centralize them with himself. Lagertha is doing her best to teach him a fundamental principle:

Top management empowers product teams to make decisions.

As Ecbert adapts to a new leadership style, he looks at Lagertha and says, “We’ve defined our business model, value proposition, and changed our teams to focus on specific audiences. Can we now talk about what we should work on next?” Lagertha knew this question would come and, and said, “Sure. We’re exactly at this moment. It’s time for us to agree on…