· Leaner Portfolio Management · 2 min read
How To Choose An Owner For a Cross-Organization Initiative
A practical framework for selecting initiative owners in a product-oriented organization: why ownership is about Why and What more than How, and how to avoid the accountability vacuum on cross-product work.
Reader Kevin had this question about Cross-Product Initiative Ownership:
*“How should we choose an Initiative (or Epic) Owner when multiple parts of the organization will be responsible for delivery?”*
That is a good question that often comes up in the trenches when I’m helping organizations apply product-oriented agile thinking to cross-organization initiatives.
Here’s how I think about it: Initiative Ownership is about the Why and the What more than the How.
Ask yourself - who is the best person to:
Act as a visionary for their strategic initiative.
Own the Outcomes
Connect to customers
Collaborate with a multitude of teams on finding creative and effective ways to test and deliver outcomes.
Make critical decisions and decentralize when possible while providing clarity and context.
Focus on the risks/uncertainties and create discovery and delivery plans that provide ample opportunity to inspect, adapt, or stop.
Leverage influence to drive collaboration towards outcomes across multiple products and departments.
Want a shortcut? Cross-product initiatives often have a “lead” organization closest to the outcomes we’re trying to unlock.
The Initiative Owner often comes from that organization. Even if other teams have more work to enable/deliver the desired outcomes.
PS I’ve spent quite a bit of time in recent months training and coaching Initiative/Epic Owners on moving from project/delivery focus to product and evidence-based thinking. If that sounds interesting,
For hands-on support building this capability, see Portfolio Agility.
About Yuval Yeret
Yuval is a rare practitioner who has shaped the agility path of dozens of organizations and influenced the frameworks used across the industry. He helps product and technology leaders move from agile theater to evidence-informed, outcome-oriented delivery that creates better value sooner, safer, and happier.
