Product Organizational Structure

Cagan argues that a fairly standard organizational structure has emerged for product organizations, and that its shape affects behavior even though role definitions matter more. He contends that a CEO/COO or division GM should have three distinct top-level voices: Marketing, Product Management and Design, and Engineering. Product design should sit closely with product managers rather than being buried under marketing or engineering, and IT should stay separate from product engineering. The advice is framed as guidance: if a team is working well, don't change it; if delivery feels painful, evolving toward this model may help.

01Key takeaways

• Give product management, design and engineering each a top-level leader who reports directly to the CEO/COO or GM.
• Keep interaction designers closely aligned with product managers rather than placing them under marketing or engineering.
• Separate IT from product engineering because their demands and leadership differ.
• Keep product marketing distinct from product management, ideally inside marketing, to avoid role confusion.
• If the product team is working well, avoid restructuring; if delivery is painful, consider moving toward this model.

02Key sections

Why structure still matters

Cagan admits structure is less important to him than roles, but notes that organizational design does shape behavior and can noticeably improve effectiveness.

Three top-level voices

Each senior leader should have Marketing, Product Management and Design, and Engineering reporting directly, with none buried inside another.

What belongs in each group

Marketing covers corporate, communications, field and product marketing; product covers management, design and subject-matter experts; engineering covers architecture, QA, release, devops and delivery.

Keeping design close to product

Product design, especially interaction designers, should be tightly tied to product managers, which explains the trend of combining product management and design under one organization with separate leaders.

Edge cases and startups

Graphic design and product marketing placement involve trade-offs, and startups can focus on people over structure but should build a proper organization as they grow.

03From the post

“A partnership dedicated to teaching best practices to product teams and product leaders”

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.