· Leaner Portfolio Management · 2 min read
Cross-Product Initiative Ownership
Why cross-product initiatives fail under classic program management — and what it looks like when initiative owners act with real product ownership accountability in a product-oriented operating model.
Many organizations tackling cross-product initiatives struggle with initiative ownership.
At its heart, a cross-product initiative involves significant impact across multiple products/groups (sometimes called a portfolio)
As organizations scale up, they get to the point where they need to tackle cross-product/cross-organization initiatives. These are often significant, complex endeavors aimed at solving an expensive problem or opening a very lucrative door for the organization. In other words - they’re strategic bets.
Even organizations with a strong product culture are tempted to leverage classic program management to deal with these initiatives. What does that look like:
Tracking to committed scope (rather than steering towards outcomes),
Control (rather than aligned autonomy).
Dissonance between the way initiatives are managed and how product teams are working.
Change Control (rather than collaboration and flexibility)
Sadly, this style of management isn’t appropriate here.
In a product-oriented operating system, we realize that these are complex and treat them in many ways like products - including assigning product ownership accountability to them - e.g. in the form of Initiative Ownership.
But the point isn’t to call someone an Initiative/Epic Owner. The value comes from them acting like one.
Product-oriented Initiative Owners:
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 as well as decentralize when possible while providing clarity and context.
Focus on the risks/uncertainties and create discovery and delivery plans that provide plenty of opportunity to inspect, adapt, or stop.
Leverage influence to drive collaboration towards outcomes across multiple products and departments.
You might say they act like Professional Product Owners…
Are you looking at tips and tricks for bringing product orientation to the portfolio level? In the Portfolio Agility Trail Map, I share what I’ve found helpful when helping organizations like yours on this journey.
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.