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, let’s chat…