Leading in Threes: Why Product, Tech, and Delivery Matter

When it comes to long-term planning and making daily decisions in a product-led business, our experts agree that three minds are always better than one.

In their collective experience, bringing together a dedicated trio of personnel – featuring a product, a technical and a delivery lead – to head up and drive projects will not only get you there faster. It will also result in more effective and sustainable outcomes.

However, it’s not as simple as just putting three people together in a room – and waiting for the magic to happen. To function effectively, this leadership trio should be selected with forethought and care. And it’s not just the personality mix that needs to be taken into consideration.

We brought together 101 Ways’ Product Principal Oliver Happy, Engineering Director Grant Smith and Delivery Principal Matt Penhall to talk through why it takes ‘three amigos’ to lead effectively, and how to set these teams up for success.

Here’s what they had to say.

The power of three

A high functioning trinity of three amigos – responsible for driving key product, engineering and delivery activities and decision making in concert – will be unstoppable. Together, they will identify and define all key project planning considerations, including any challenges/roadblocks that need to be overcome.

Responsible for identifying the who, what, why, how and when of a project, the three amigos act as a vital 2-way communications conduit between the business and the organisation’s software development/delivery teams.

Their role is to ensure vital contributions and insights are captured, value generating opportunities aren’t missed, and everyone’s expectations are appropriately set and managed. That includes translating up the line – ‘agile project speak jargon’ into something business stakeholders understand – and down the line – making business strategy accessible and actionable for software development teams.

Why is this important? Ultimately, planning is a team sport and the three amigos collectively bring together a wealth of contributions to the table, ensuring that no perspective is overlooked. Together they will apply structured thinking to define project delivery goals, build timelines, and empower business – and development teams – to make project-related decisions. Creating road maps that get your business where it needs to go while ensuring that everyone is onboard with the mission.

What can go wrong?

According to our panel, it takes time and effort to put together a well-functioning leadership team. If you don’t get the team dynamics right, then the ‘loudest voice’ will win every argument. Depending on who has the lead voice, this can result in teams having a clear vision but no delivery pathway. Or great engineering principles but no product value to deliver. Or flounder when it comes to delivering consistently.

With this in mind, key decision makers will need to evaluate individual personalities to ensure they create a high-functioning team. One where no one gets sidelined and everyone’s view is respected. Inevitably there will be professional disagreements along the way – it’s how the team resolves these frictions that counts.

Another key issue is expecting the trio to undertake their day jobs in addition to their leadership responsibilities. To become a high performance team that delivers effectively, these people will need to be given time to work for and with the business – with minimal distractions.

Our experts were also quick to point out that the trick is to embrace decision making as a team sport. It is unlikely that one trio will be responsible for all decisions during the product lifecycle, and at each stage from Ideation through to Delivery it will make sense to build the trio from appropriate skill sets in the team.

Pairing people with projects – pick the right aptitudes for the task in hand

As Tony Fadell – creator of the iPod, co-creator of the iPhone and the founder of Nest Labs – famously observed, growing the right team is as important as building the right product.

Alongside considering the experience and personal styles of individuals selected to lead projects, the make-up of domain experts chosen to form the leadership trio will also depend on the nature and purpose of a project.

The renowned business strategist Simon Wardley illustrates this organisational reality beautifully. He believes that people fall into one of three temperament types: pioneers (who love exploring new concepts), settlers (who are great at refining concepts and making them happen) or town planners (who are great at finding ways to make established things more efficient, faster, better).

It stands to reason that pioneers won’t be the best pick for projects where the task outcome is related to maximising a mature product. Similarly, town planners aren’t going to relish being asked to lead a project where the core goal is innovation.

So, in addition to ensuring team members will work well together, it’s important to choose people best suited to the type of work required.

Creating the conditions for success

Many organisations find introducing new ways of working a tricky proposition. But initiating the three-way project leadership model doesn’t need to be disruptive.

Our team of experts recommend starting small to establish proof points that illustrate the measurable value to be gained by operating in a new way. By bringing in a trinity to build software differently, new insights will be surfaced and lessons learned. Often that extends to identifying issues within the wider system that need to be addressed – this could be a process, a technology or a wider transformation.

As the team develops its planning and execution muscles, learnings gained from undertaking smaller projects can be applied to finding ways to simplify and reduce complexities within the wider environment itself. This could include defining a modernisation strategy or applying product-led thinking to evaluate how best to reduce the time, effort and cost associated with existing development cycles.

Ultimately, initiating a three-way project leadership model will deliver the energy, focus and planning required to make key commercial decisions – like should we solve this problem now, or do a rethink? All of which will help create a more effective, sustainable and product-led business in the long term.

Looking to boost your ability to deliver and build your people’s capabilities? We can help. And if you’d like to hear more from industry experts like Ollie, Grant and Matt, then check out our Team Takeover podcast series.