How to Build a Startup around Lean Product Development

Howdy, Upstarts!

In one of my previous articles, I outlined the basic Product Development Process for Lean Startups, and in this article, I will explain how this process affects How to Build a Startup and organize your teams.

One of the most important characteristics of your Startup is how effectively you can produce new features for your product, i.e. how quickly and cheaply can your startup create value for your Users and how quickly and cheaply can your startup find product-market fit. Because it is so important for early-stage startups to operate efficiently, it is often a good idea to organize your teams around your Product Development Process to be as efficient as possible.

In one of my previous articles, I outlined the basic Product Development Process for Lean Startups. This Product Development Process is done in two phases: Articulation and Implementation. As I explained, the goal of the Articulation Phase is to build a list of Requirements or Features that your Product needs to bring value to your Users; the goal of the Implementation Phase is to build those Features as quickly and cheaply as possible. 

In this article, I will discuss how the Product Development Process will impact the organization and structure of your Startup.

Two Phases - Two Teams

At its most basic level, this Product Development Process has two phases, and that means that you need two leaders. Your startup will need one team to execute the Articulation Phase, and your startup will need another team to execute the Implementation Phase.

We can divide these two Phases by making them the responsibility of two, separate departments. The team that manages the execution of the Articulation Phase is the Product Department, and the team that manages the execution of the Implementation Phase is the Engineering Department.

Two Departments to Execute your Lean Product Development Process

We make these separations because each Phase has very different roles, responsibilities, and requires very different skillsets.

Product Department

The role of the Product Department is to manage and execute the Product Articulation Phase.

The Product Department is responsible for identifying opportunities that your Startup’s Product can bring Value to your Startup’s Users and for transcribing these opportunities into clear Product Requirements.

The primary skills that a member of the Product Department should have are to analyze, to organize, to define, and to communicate.

To identify opportunities to bring value to your Startup’s Users, members of your Product Department should be able to gather data about how your Product is Used. Which methods are most suited to gathering this data is dependant on your Product. For example, if your Product is a B2B Product, then it might be most efficient to conduct interview sessions with one or two key clients; however, if your Product is a B2C Product, then it might be most efficient to use usage tracking tools, such as Google Analytics. The key point is that your Product Department must be proficient in gathering actionable data form your Startup’s Users to identify opportunities to increase the value of your Product. In short, they must be able to transform data in opportunities.

To define Product Requirements, members of your Product Department must be able to organize their thoughts and write clear descriptions of how your Startup’s Product should behave. There are many frameworks and methodologies to do this, but the key point is that members of your Product Department must be able to synthesize and communicate clear Product Requirements. In short, they must be able to transform opportunities into actionable requirements.

The output of the Product Articulation Phase should be a set of clearly-defined Product Requirements that will increase the Value that your Startup’s Product brings to your Users.

Engineering Department

The role of the Engineering Department is to manage and execute the Product Implementation Phase.

The Engineering Department is responsible for building and maintaining your Startup’s Product. After the Product Department has identified what needs to be built, your Engineering must build it as quickly and cheaply as possible, to bring Value to your Startup’s Users.

The primary skills that a member of the Engineering Department should have are to analyze, to communicate, to model, to adapt, and to execute.

To build a Product, members of your Engineering Department must be able to listen and understand the Product Requirements that their fellows of the Product Department produce for them. With these requirements in hand, members of the Engineering Department must efficiently craft a strategy to build systems and models that can deliver these Product Requirements on behalf of your Startup’s Users. In short, they must be able to imagine how code can be written to make a product.

Once they have developed this strategy, members of your Engineering department must have the Technical Skills to execute this strategy. In short, they must be able to write the code that they imagined.

Analysts and Architects

The goal of the Lean Product Development Process is to empower Startups to launch Products quickly and to build Products that bring a lot of value to Users. I have divided it into two phases: Articulation and Implementation. Executing each Phase requires different skills and talents, and this has the natural, structural consequence when building companies around the Lea Product Development Process.

In my experience, dividing your Startup into teams around each Phase of the Lean Product Development Process allows you to build departments that specialize in the talents and cultivate the skills most suited for each Phase of the Lean Product Development Process. In short, your need to build a Startup with both Analysts who can identify opportunities and Architects who seize those opportunities.

The first phase, Articulation, is managed by the Product Department; and the second phase, Implementation, is managed by the Engineering Department. So, we have defined the departments that your Startup will need.

In my next article, I will talk about which people are responsible for leading each department.