Giving a product team its direction back
Months of bespoke work for one client had blurred what the Conversations product was for. I ran the process that reset it.
- Company
- Workhuman
- Sector
- HR software
- When
- 2022
- My role
- Principal Product Designer and facilitator
- A product vision and strategy tied to company goals and team structure
- Sprint Blocks, an outcome-based way of working inside a fixed time box
- An outcome-based roadmap built with executives
- Two other Workhuman teams asked to run the same process
Conversations had more than a million users after four years. Then the team spent an extended period building to specification for one large client. People lost their sense of identity and of where the product was going. The market and the company’s objectives were shifting at the same time.
Making the case
The quick route was to settle the direction in a few conversations with executives. I argued for a design-led process that included the whole team.
That needed trust and time in busy calendars. I went on a listening tour, took the feedback on board and got leadership to agree.
The workshops
I designed and facilitated a series of multi-day workshops, with help from other designers. Between sessions I did the analysis and affinity mapping that prepared the next one. Executives took part in many of them, so the outcome was theirs too.
The workshops produced three things.
A product vision and strategy. Why the team exists, how its mission fits the company’s, and why the team is structured as it is.
Sprint Blocks. The team wanted to work towards outcomes. Leadership needed to know that chasing an outcome would not run on without end. Sprint Blocks combine agile sprints with an outcome and a fixed time box.
An outcome-based roadmap. The team used to receive a problem with a half-defined solution attached. I ran separate sessions with executives to record the outcomes they wanted for the year, and the team worked from those.
What happened
The team got its identity back, and the rollout was smooth. Two other teams at Workhuman asked me to run the same process with them.
What I would do differently
This was close to product management territory, and I had to take care not to step on other people’s work. I would bring product management in from the start.