The document summarizes a webinar by Matt LeMay on transitioning from a "feature factory" product team model to an outcome-driven model. LeMay notes that both company leaders and product managers say they want to be outcome-driven but often act like they want a feature factory. He advocates that leaders clearly communicate how teams will be evaluated and ask product managers to specify outcomes and metrics, not just general goals. This allows teams more autonomy to achieve outcomes through various means beyond features.

1. FROM A FEATURE FACTORY TO
A PRODUCT TEAM FOCUSED
ON OUTCOMES
WITH MATT LEMAY
PRODUCT COACH AND CONSULTANT,
AUTHOR OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT IN
PRACTICE AND AGILE FOR EVERYBODY
SEPTEMBER 13, 2022
12:30 pm PT, 3:30 pm ET, 8:30 pm BST
Product Management Today
The Path to Product-Led Growth
Rayvonne Carter
Webinar Coordinator
Product Management Today

2. 03
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4. FROM A FEATURE FACTORY
TO A PRODUCT TEAM
FOCUSED ON OUTCOMES
Product Management Today
The Path to Product-Led Growth
Matt LeMay
Product Coach and Consultant, Author
of Product Management in Practice and
Agile for Everybody

5. From Feature Factory to
Outcome-Driven Product Team
Matt LeMay / matt@mattlemay.com / @mattlemay
Product Management Today Webinar Sept 13 2022

6. Hi! It is great to be here with y’all today.
@mattlemay | outcome-driven teams

7. I’ve spent the better part of the last two
years (and a whole lot of the last decade)
talking to product people.
@mattlemay | outcome-driven teams

8. … and I’ve heard a lot of
things.
@mattlemay | outcome-driven teams

9. One of the most common things I’ve heard?
@mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
“Yeah, our company leadership talks a big
game about being ‘focused on outcomes’ but
they still keep handing us long lists of features
to build and holding us to arbitrary deadlines.”

10. In other words, “you SAY you want to be
outcome-driven, but you REALLY want to be
a feature factory.”
@mattlemay | outcome-driven teams

11. But what do those company leaders say?
@mattlemay | outcome-driven teams

12. But what do those team/company leaders say?
@mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
“Yeah, product managers talk a big game about
being ‘focused on outcomes’ but they won’t
seem to agree on what exactly those outcomes
are, and just wind up promising to build us
features by arbitrary deadlines.”

13. In other words, “you SAY you want to be
outcome-driven, but you REALLY want to be
a feature factory.”
@mattlemay | outcome-driven teams

14. Company Leaders
@mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
Product Managers
“Accountability”
“Outcomes” “Outcomes”
“Autonomy”
“Business Results” “Delighting Users”

15. Company Leaders
@mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
Product Managers
“Accountability” “Autonomy”
1. Be CLEAR and REALISTIC about how product managers and teams
will be evaluated against achieving outcomes in general.
2. Be UNCOMFORTABLY SPECIFIC about the outcomes you want
product teams to achieve.

16. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
Product managers asking to be evaluated
against “outcomes” not “output” (ie,
features):

17. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
Those same product managers when
they’re asked exactly what “outcomes”
they’re working towards:

18. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
Product managers evaluated against
“output”:

19. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
Product managers evaluated against
“outcomes”:

20. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
People don’t like being
evaluated against things
outside of their control….

21. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
…. Which is why even the product
managers who are most vocal
about not wanting to be a “feature
factory” will resist committing to
speci
fi
c outcome-level goals for
their products and teams.

22. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
A question for you:
Do you have a clear sense of what
exactly your accountability is
around team and company goals?

23. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
So, what can we do?
Be CLEAR and REALISTIC about how product managers
and teams will be evaluated against achieving outcomes
in general.

24. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
• What are the outcomes your team
is working towards?
• How are you trending towards
those outcomes?
• Why?
• What are you doing about it?

25. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
“Cool but we’re still a feature factory!”

26. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams

27. OUTCOMES over OUTPUT
IN A DELIBERATE SYSTEM WITH

28. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
Less like this:

29. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
More like this:

30. OUTCOMES over OUTPUT

31. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
If product teams want the autonomy to pursue
all di
ff
erent kinds of output, they need to be
UNCOMFORTABLY SPECIFIC about the
outcomes they seek to achieve, and when
exactly they seek to achieve them.

32. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
If, for example, your team’s
goal is just to “improve user
engagement”?
Feature factory.

33. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
However, if your team’s goal
is to “increase the task
completion rate for email
sends by 30% overall by the
end of the quarter”?
You’re gonna have to get
creative.

34. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
A question for you:
Do you know what speci
fi
c goals
and targets your team is aiming to
achieve, and on what timeline?

35. Company Leaders
@mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
Product Managers
“Accountability” “Autonomy”
1. Be CLEAR and REALISTIC about how product managers and teams
will be evaluated against achieving outcomes in general.
2. Be UNCOMFORTABLY SPECIFIC about the outcomes you want
product teams to achieve.

36. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams

37. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
“My team’s goal is to increase the task
completion rate for email sends by 30%
overall by the end of the quarter. Right now,
we’ve only been able to increase it by about
5% with small incremental improvements.
This is forcing us to work with other teams to
fi
gure out some bolder steps we can take,
like subtracting entire steps from the current
work
fl
ow.”

38. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams

39. Product Coach and Consultant,
Author of Product Management in
Practice and Agile for Everybody
Matt LeMay
/in/mattlemay/
/in/rayvonnecarter/
Q&A
Rayvonne Carter
Webinar Coordinator
Product Management Update
productmanagemen
t
today.com

40. @mattlemay | outcome-driven teams
Being a feature factory is easier… for just
about everybody.
But focusing your team around outcomes
can free you up to explore more interesting,
and impactful solutions… many of which
won’t be features at all.

41. Matt LeMay
@mattlemay
matt@mattlemay.com