Driving organizational transformation through Product-Oriented Teams

Over the years, I’ve walked many paths through the world of product transformation. As a design leader, I’ve had the privilege of helping teams navigate these shifts—not just through strategy and structure, but through empathy, clarity, and user-centered thinking. No two journeys have been the same. Each one came with its own terrain—twists of challenge, peaks of opportunity, and the occasional fork in the road where valuable lessons waited to be discovered.

One journey, in particular, stands out. It's still unfolding today: the shift to product-oriented teams. Unlike a simple reorganization, this isn’t just a shuffle of boxes on a chart—it’s a deliberate evolution, a reimagining of how we build, deliver, and sustain value. This transformation is about empowering teams to own outcomes, move with purpose, and innovate with the customer firmly in focus.

As of May 2025, this shift is well underway. We’re following a roadmap that balances structure with adaptability, and early signs of progress are encouraging. Teams are gaining momentum. The benefits are starting to surface. But we know transformation isn’t a one-time event—it’s a continuous mindset, one that calls for constant learning, refining, and adapting as the business evolves.

Leveraging strengths to drive scalable growth

What’s been most energizing about this transformation is how it taps into existing strengths. It’s not about correcting what was broken; it’s about enhancing what was already working. A turning point came when UX and UI professionals were embedded directly into product teams. Collaboration became real-time, not sequential. Iterations sped up. Decisions got sharper. The products themselves became more intuitive—better aligned with actual user needs. This integration fostered innovation and adaptability, showing us what’s possible when cross-functional collaboration is more than a concept.

Strategy with intention, not just inspiration

While the vision for transformation was ambitious, its execution had to be grounded. We needed a strategy that was both structured and flexible—something that could evolve as we did. We began with alignment: uniting leadership, product, design, and engineering around shared goals. From there, we launched pilot teams to validate ideas in the real world. With feedback in hand, we fine-tuned our approach, investing in capability-building along the way. Training, mentorship, and clear frameworks gave teams the confidence and tools they needed. Culture was never an afterthought—we prioritized it, nurturing a mindset of ownership, openness, and continuous improvement. This was never about change for its own sake; it was about change with impact, driven by people who believed in it.

How teams are structured to succeed

As we progressed, we realized that team structure was as important as team goals. It wasn’t enough to delegate work; we had to design teams around value delivery. That’s where the concept of team topologies came in—a framework that aligns different types of teams with the roles they are best suited to play, and encourages true cross-functional collaboration between engineering, product, business, and design.

1. Stream-aligned teams are the closest to the customer, delivering end-to-end value within a specific domain. These teams bring together product managers, engineers, business analysts, UX/UI designers, and often QA professionals, ensuring that every feature is shaped by a deep understanding of both user and business needs.
2. Enabling teams act as internal coaches and experts, helping other teams level up their skills and solve hard problems. Alongside UX researchers and accessibility experts, you'll often find DevOps specialists, architects, and data analysts who guide teams in adopting new technologies and improving delivery practices.
3. Platform teams build reusable tools and services that reduce redundancy and speed up development. With UX designers focused on internal tooling and design systems, these teams collaborate with infrastructure engineers, backend developers, and security experts to create a stable foundation for innovation.
4. System teams ensure performance, stability, and integration across the product ecosystem. These teams often include systems engineers, test automation specialists, and UX professionals validating complex workflows to ensure end-to-end usability and reliability.

Each of these structures brings a unique strength, and together they form an ecosystem that enables speed without sacrificing quality—a truly integrated model where diverse expertise aligns to drive meaningful outcomes.

Making the shift: From plan to execution

Of course, having a vision isn’t enough. Execution matters—and it’s still in motion. We’re progressing in phases, using each step as a learning loop for the next. We've started by analyzing workflows and identifying high-impact opportunities. From there, we've been shaping interaction models and team structures to align with our evolving goals.

The pilot phase continues to guide our thinking, offering practical insight from real teams navigating change. As we learn, we adapt—refining implementation, scaling thoughtfully, and putting in place governance structures that support consistency while encouraging innovation.

What’s particularly encouraging is how this approach has begun to ripple outward. Other departments are now taking notice—and adopting similar models. The principles of product-orientation, team empowerment, and customer-centricity are proving their value, and the transformation is gaining traction far beyond its original boundaries.

It's not a finished product—it’s a living process, shaped by feedback, collaboration, and purposeful iteration—but one that’s clearly resonating and expanding with momentum.

Metrics that reflect real progress

To keep ourselves honest, we needed clear, meaningful metrics. Not just delivery stats, but indicators of how well our teams were working together and responding to real needs. Velocity and cycle time helped us understand our speed and responsiveness. Lead time and throughput gave us visibility into flow and productivity. Sprint burndown helped flag issues early, keeping teams aligned and focused.

But those only told half the story. To understand how our work landed with users, we looked at UX outcome metrics. Task success rate and time on task gave us clues about clarity and efficiency. Usability scores helped us track how intuitive our experiences really were. Satisfaction scores and accessibility compliance reminded us that good design is inclusive design.

Taken together, these measures reflect more than just activity—they reflect business impact. Are we shipping the right things, at the right time, in a way that drives real value? These metrics help answer that question.

(And yes, if you’re hoping for a deep dive on accessibility, hang tight—that’s a whole article in itself. I’m trying to keep this one under "epic novel" status.)

Final reflections

Looking back, one insight stands out: meaningful transformation starts with people. Tools and frameworks can set the stage, but it’s the mindset, trust, and shared ownership that move the work forward. When teams are empowered and aligned, innovation becomes repeatable. The user experience becomes a shared goal, not a downstream deliverable.

In today’s fast-moving digital world, building from the ground up while staying nimble isn’t just smart—it’s essential. For those of us leading through design, it’s a call to guide with vision, empathy, and clarity.