There isn’t one right way to structure a product team, and what works for one team may not work for the next.
But for e-commerce company Honey and digital media company Centerfield, the structure of their product teams put the customer experience at the center of everything they do.
Honey, for example, clusters their product teams based on the customer experiences they aim to emphasize that quarter. “The purpose of this structure is to identify and execute upon opportunities to improve the customer experience within the suite of Honey products,” Head of Product Alex Malek said.
Graham Dee, a senior product manager at Centerfield, said their product team follows a similar, customer-centric route by primarily focusing on increasing customer touchpoints through alternative marketing channels.
Built In LA caught up with Malek and Dee to learn more about the structure of their respective product teams, how it’s evolved and what they look for when bringing on new members to the team.
Honey’s e-commerce platform connects users with discount and savings opportunities. Alex Malek, head of product, said that the purpose of Honey’s product team’s structure is to identify and execute opportunities where it can improve its customer experiences.
What is the current structure of your product team?
Our teams are clustered around the various customer experiences that we want to emphasize and highlight that quarter. The purpose of this structure is to identify and execute opportunities to improve the customer experience within the suite of Honey products. In addition, this structure allows for teams to move nimbly and autonomously, having the resources and context to build and iterate without lots of synchronization. Where possible, we try to reduce dependencies between teams. Once a quarter, we align around a common set of goals and build a roadmap for how we are going to move the needle toward those goals.
Product team hires who are successful at Honey are naturally curious and rigorously ask ‘why’ their decisions solve the root problem.”
How has this structure evolved as your team has grown?
We recently brought our merchant-facing teams closer together to facilitate building a more cohesive experience. This has allowed us to think deeper and focus more on how we can drive our clients’ business goals.
What’s the most important consideration for you when adding new members to your team?
We prize first-principles thinking. We want to keep our product development process as agile and autonomous as possible, so we look to hire folks who have an entrepreneurial perspective and can inform their decisions with data. Product team hires who are successful at Honey are naturally curious and rigorously ask “why” their decisions solve the root problem.
Digital media company Centerfield uses a proprietary big data platform to provide clients with customized marketing and sales insights. In order to increase consumer touchpoints through alternative marketing channels, Senior Product Manager Graham Dee and SVP of Digital Zach Robbins hired two product managers, two designers and one retention marketing manager.
What is the current structure of your product team?
Our product team consists of two product managers, two designers and one retention marketing manager who report to our SVP of Digital, Zach Robbins.
When I started in April 2019, it was just Zach and I building our team from scratch. Our primary focus was to increase consumer touchpoints through alternative marketing channels. As we built out various new experiences like e-commerce, chat, email and SMS flows, we also increased our headcount to help manage all of the new products.
As technology continues to evolve with fresh and unique marketing channels, so will we.”
How do you envision this structure evolving in the future?
I see our team growing more as we finish 2020 and embark on new projects in 2021 for two reasons. First, the existing flows we’ve built in the past year will continue to grow via hands-on optimization. Second, even though we’ve built out four to five new consumer touchpoints and experiences, we’re certainly not done. As technology continues to evolve with fresh and unique marketing channels, so will we.
What’s the most important consideration for you when adding new members to your team?
I think the most important qualities I look for when interviewing potential candidates are communication skills and relevant experience. I like it when candidates can clearly and concisely explain their past experiences and when they can tie those learnings to what Centerfield and the open role has to offer.
