Co-Leadership in Complex Product Development
When Two Heads Are Better Than One: Co-Leading Specialized Products
In today's complex tech landscape, organizations frequently develop products for highly specialized market segments, which presents a unique leadership challenge in product development teams.
Consider the subject matter experts (SMEs) within your organization who possess comprehensive knowledge of specific domains and target user groups. While their technical expertise is invaluable, they might lack experience with essential product management practices, such as conducting effective user research, implementing agile methodologies, developing minimum viable products (MVPs), and making data-driven product decisions.
Conversely, skilled product managers excel at product development frameworks and methodologies but may require substantial time to thoroughly understand complex technical domains, industry-specific challenges, emerging technologies, and competitive dynamics within specialized markets.
Finding individuals who possess both deep domain knowledge and strong product management capabilities is exceptionally rare, making it challenging to hire or develop such talent internally.
Product Co-Leadership
A pragmatic approach to address this challenge involves implementing a co-leadership model: pairing a seasoned product manager with an experienced subject matter expert. The product manager oversees the development framework, processes, and methodologies, while the SME guides domain-specific decisions and technical direction. When these leaders collaborate effectively with mutual respect and trust, they can drive successful product outcomes.
However, this co-leadership model requires careful consideration. Success depends on both leaders maintaining strong mutual trust, checking their egos at the door, and strictly adhering to their defined responsibilities. They must maintain exceptional alignment while frequently participating in joint meetings, examining challenges from their respective viewpoints.
While co-leadership can be highly effective for complex, specialized products, it isn't universally necessary. For products with easily understood domains or those approaching end-of-life, a single leader with either strong product management skills or domain expertise may be sufficient.
What I Read
As usual, I will list some of the best articles I read on the Internet. I will keep a list of the best articles (currently >800) at https://www.digital-product-management.com. These are today’s picks:
Taming Opportunity Solution Trees: Four Strategies for Taming Opportunity Solution Trees.
Evaluating Product Managers: 7 areas to judge the effectiveness of a product manager.
Anatomy of a prompt: A good way to structure GenAI prompts.
I believe the concept you're describing is quite common in vehicle development projects, which typically involve more than 1,000 people. Although the structure may vary slightly, the fundamental idea remains the same. The project team usually includes, in addition to the project manager, several sub-project leaders who are responsible for specific functions or domains. Common sub-project areas include Engineering, Purchasing, Manufacturing Engineering, and Sales/After-Sales.
These sub-project leaders work with teams made up of what we refer to as Functional Unit Representatives. For example, in truck development, a sub-project leader for Engineering would collaborate with representatives from Cabin Development, Chassis Development, Powertrain Development, and Mechatronics Development.
This structure allows the project manager to work closely with only a handful of people, rather than all 1,000 involved. Each of these key representatives brings the full expertise of their respective area to the table, effectively representing the broader team.