What Does a Product Team Do?

A product team is typically responsible for the strategy, roadmap, and execution of product development.

This includes managing the product life cycle, developing product plans, performing user research, identifying customer needs, designing prototypes, building the product, and analyzing data to inform future decisions.

The product team also works closely with other teams within the company such as engineering, design, marketing, sales, and customer research. This often results in the creation of a cross-functional product team that works together to bring the product to market or focuses on smaller projects such as developing new features or product iterations.

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How to structure your product team?

Product team structure usually takes on the form of a small, creative groups of engineers, designers, and product managers who know what makes the customers tick.

The entire team works together to come up with new product ideas, design prototypes and test them out with customers — something they often need to collaborate with the engineering or marketing team on.

The organizational structure of product teams usually depends on the size of the company and the stage of product development.

In a small startup, the product team typically reports to the CEO or CTO of the company. As the company grows, the product team structure may expand and require a project manager, a product marketing manager, business unit manager or even a chief product officer.

In large companies, the product team structure may be divided into smaller groups that focus on specific products or product lines. These teams are often led by a product manager who oversees multiple product teams or a group of product managers working with their own teams.

A product manager is typically responsible for ensuring that product development adheres to the pre-established business strategy and roadmap. They work with other team members to prioritize tasks, make strategic decisions, and execute the overall vision of the product.

In some cases, they may also be responsible for working with marketing, sales, and customer success teams to ensure that the product is living up to its full potential.

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How has remote work changed the way product teams work 

Companies launch approximately 30,000 new consumer products every year, yet only 5% of those products become successful. The numbers are even more discouraging when business products are factored into the equation.

The failure rate for new products is high, and it's only getting higher as the market becomes more saturated and competitive. So what does this mean for product teams?

For one, a product team needs to be more agile and efficient in their work. Product success largely depends on being able to fulfill customer needs, rapidly make decisions and iterate on ideas. This means that product teams need to be able to work quickly and efficiently, without sacrificing quality.

The rise of remote work has only made this more challenging. With team members spread out across different time zones and locations, it can be difficult for product leaders to get everyone on the same page and move through the product development cycle.

In order to face these challenges, many product teams are turning to virtual meeting rooms. Virtual meeting rooms allow the product manager and their team meet, brainstorm, and collaborate in real time, regardless of where they are in the world.

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What kind of virtual meetings can benefit a product development team?

Each product development team is different and will have unique needs when it comes to virtual meetings.

However, there are a few types of meetings that every product manager worth their salt will recognize to be particularly beneficial for product teams.

These are designed to not only allow product managers to keep their team on track, but also to foster collaboration, creativity, and open communication.

Some of the virtual meetings beneficial for product development teams include:

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Workshops

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Workshops are longer interactive meetings where product teams get to dive deeper into a specific topic or issue.

Oftentimes, workshops gather representatives of different teams — product marketing, engineering, quality assurance, sales — as well as the product manager in order to get a well-rounded perspective on the product.

Cross-functional team workshops are especially beneficial for product teams as they can help them not only gain the perspective of other teams but also build relationships with other departments as they strive to reach their common goals.

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War room meetings

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War room meetings are an invaluable addition to any product manager's toolkit.

These high-intensity sessions are designed to help teams make decisions quickly at any stage of the product development lifecycle.

The goal of a war room is achieving a specific goal which often requires pulling resources, staff, and knowledge from different departments.

Coordination of so many moving pieces can be a challenge especially for a product manager when trying to launch multiple products, which is why virtual war rooms can be extremely helpful.

They provide product teams with a centralized place to track progress, share resources, and make decisions quickly. By hosting war room meetings in a virtual meeting space, product managers can ensure product success and avoid costly delays.

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Sprint meetings

Sprint meetings are a staple of Agile product development.

These regular fast-paced meetings help product managers ensure that product teams are on track to meet their deadlines and deliverables.

According to the 6th principle of the Agile Manifesto: "The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation." As product managers try to wrangle cross-functional teams that are often located in different parts of the world, this can be a challenge.

While there's no substitute for in-person conversation, virtual sprint meetings come extremely close.

These regular check-ins help product managers keep their finger on the pulse of the team and ensure that everyone is always aware of the project's goals, progress, and obstacles.

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Ideation meetings

Every good product starts with an idea.

In order to ensure that your product team is always generating new and innovative solutions to product line challenges, it's important to host regular ideation meetings.

Ideation meetings are all about encouraging creativity and open-mindedness. By giving team members the time and space to share their ideas, you can create a breeding ground for innovation.

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Brainstorm meetings

Brainstorming is all about gathering the key players in one place, be it the product designers, engineering team, or product marketers, and letting their creative juices flow.

Product companies thrive on innovation and it's the product manager who is responsible for ensuring their team has the tools and processes in place to generate new ideas.

One of the best ways to encourage creativity and innovation is to host regular brainstorming sessions.

A virtual brainstorming room can give the product team the flexibility they need to meet up when the inspiration strikes instead of going through the excrutiating process of scheduing a video calls.

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Coffee chats

Research shows that knowing your product team can significantly increase productivity. Familiarity and trust encourage technical knowledge sharing, creativity, and more productive collaboration.

Successful companies know this, which is why they make it a priority to invest in team-building activities.

Coffee chats are a great way for a product team to bond, not only with each other but with their product manager, . These informal chats can not only spark creativity but also provide an opportunity for everyone to get to know each other on a personal level and build the trust that will strengthen your team structure.

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Kick-off meetings

Nothing can sabotage product success more than failure to set goals, objectives, and expectations at the beginning of a project. Proper product management needs to start with a kick-off meeting — an introductory meeting to get everyone on your product team into the loop.

A kick-off meeting should include all of the key stakeholders in the project including the product manager, product team, developers, designers, and anyone else who will be involved in the project.

By hosting this type of meeting in a virtual space you can foster team spirit and allow key players — from Chief Product Officer to Junior Designer — to get to know each other, build rapport, and set the tone for a successful project.

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How Kosy helps facilitate meetings for product teams

If having a meeting in a physical office isn’t an option, you can create virtual headquarters for your product team to operate in.

A virtual office like Kosy allows you to connect with team members no matter where they are in the world and has features like video conferencing, chat, file sharing, and task management to help facilitate collaboration.

You can build a virtual office space for your product team to:

• Have formal and informal meetings — use a virtual room to host a brainstorming session or for a casual meeting after work;
• Create the infrastructure to serve multiple products — combine every room and meeting type that works in one virtual space to streamline future product management projects
• Facilitate knowledge sharing — use breakout rooms, spontaneous interactions, and file sharing features to enable your product team to share their domain expertise with each other
• Enjoy water cooler conversations — don't miss out on workplace friendship's positive impact on productivity by setting up a virtual water cooler around which your product team can rest, cool off, and shoot the breeze; 
• Improve your creativity — freely move around your virtual office and have spontaneous conversations that are proven to spark creativity and collaboration.
• Nurture company culture — substitute an impersonal wall of emails with a welcoming virtual office and vibrant visual design that inspires team spirit and upholds company values
• Make team-building an organic part of your day — allow your product team have friendly chats in a virtual break room that wouldn't otherwise happen via IM or video calls
• Put the stop to needless email back-and-forths — ask your product team members questions by simply coming up to them instead of wasting time waiting for an email response

Ease of use, dozens of integrations, the ability to have casual conversations around the office… Just a few reasons why Kosy is the virtual platform that will help your product team ensure overall organizational success.

Sign up for free, design your office space, and start enjoying remote meetings with your peers.