Why do products fail? Part 2: Misaligned product teams

In almost every organization, cross-functional teams work together to build and launch new products. However, this collaboration is not always as smooth as it should be.

Instead of a perfectly integrated machine, product teams are frequently misaligned and dysfunctional. The result is that many products fail in the market because of how teams operate rather than any individual team member’s performance.

Misalignment means that team members have different views about what is most important for the success of their product and how they should work towards it. They might have conflicting priorities, unspoken assumptions, and varying levels of buy-in. There may be a lack of awareness about how other team members think and feel about different aspects of the product. Or team members simply may not be aligned because they don’t fully understand each other or the product vision, goals and strategy.

In this article, I will explore how product teams typically end up misaligned and the different types of misalignment they can experience.

Lack of Product Strategy

Product strategy and team alignment might not seem related at first glance, but they are deeply connected. So much so that not having a clear, well-defined and well-documented product…