Building High-Performing Product Teams at Scale

Key Takeaways

• Start with culture and values, not just process
• Empower teams with clear ownership and accountability
• Invest in continuous learning and development
• Build trust through transparency and communication

Introduction

Over my career, I've had the privilege of building and scaling product organizations from small startups to FTSE 250 companies. The journey from leading a team of 3 to managing 65+ professionals taught me invaluable lessons about what makes teams truly high-performing.

The Foundation: Culture Over Process

When I joined Utility Warehouse as CPO, I inherited a team that was talented but fragmented. The first step wasn't to implement new processes—it was to establish a shared culture.

💡 Culture Tip Define your team's values collaboratively. When people help create the values, they're more likely to live by them.

We established three core principles:

1. Customer obsession - Every decision starts with customer impact
2. Radical ownership - Teams own outcomes, not just outputs
3. Continuous learning - Failure is data, not defeat

Scaling Without Losing Soul

The challenge with scaling from 20 to 65+ people is maintaining the startup spirit while adding necessary structure. Here's what worked:

Autonomous Squads

We organized into cross-functional squads, each with:

• Clear mission and metrics
• Direct customer access
• Decision-making authority
• Budget ownership

Lightweight Governance

Instead of heavy process, we used:

• Weekly show & tells (not status updates)
• Monthly strategy reviews
• Quarterly planning with OKRs

The Power of Psychological Safety

Creating an environment where people can fail safely was transformational. We saw:

• 3x increase in experimentation
• 50% reduction in time to market
• 4.5★ app ratings (from 2.8★)

✅ Results By focusing on psychological safety, we increased team engagement scores by 40% and reduced turnover to less than 5% annually.

Lessons for Other Leaders

If you're scaling a product organization, remember:

1. Hire for potential, not just experience - Some of our best performers came from non-traditional backgrounds
2. Invest in managers - The transition from IC to manager is crucial
3. Communicate relentlessly - Over-communicate vision, strategy, and context
4. Measure what matters - Focus on outcomes, not activity

Looking Forward

The future of product leadership isn't about having all the answers—it's about creating environments where great teams can discover them together.

Building high-performing teams at scale isn't easy, but it's incredibly rewarding. The key is remembering that behind every metric is a human being trying to do their best work.

Resources

• OKR Implementation Guide
• Team Health Check Template
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team