The Product Council

Cagan argues that product decisions in most companies stall because the right people are never in the same room, and proposes a Product Council: a small cross-functional group of senior managers whose sole job is to steer product direction, allocate resources, and oversee the flow of products. The council sets product strategy within the business strategy rather than designing products itself. It gates each product effort at four milestones with explicit go/no-go decisions, from strategy review through launch. The model matters because it gives executives real oversight and accountability without micromanaging the product teams.

01Key takeaways

• Create a standing cross-functional council so key decision makers can make product calls quickly instead of in ad hoc meetings.
• Keep the council focused on product strategy and resource allocation, not business strategy or detailed product design.
• Gate each product effort with explicit go/no-go decisions at strategy, spec, engineering, and launch milestones.
• Keep council membership to about ten people and make sure each represented function has a clear spokesperson.
• Trust cost estimates only at the stage they are meant for: rough sizing early, detailed commitments from the team before engineering begins.
• Review launched products' business results 3-6 months later to build accountability and learn which decisions paid off.

02Key sections

Why decisions stall

Getting decisions made across stakeholders is slow and frustrating, so companies need a standing mechanism that brings decision makers together for timely, informed choices.

Purpose and membership

The council sets product direction and allocates investment, led by the head of product or company head, with a cross-functional membership capped at about ten people.

Four decision milestones

Each product effort passes through four council reviews, from strategy and opportunity assessment through prototype, detailed cost estimate, final QA and launch readiness, each ending in a go/no-go decision.

Operating guidelines

Minor fixes skip the council, estimates are treated appropriately at each stage, the council is not a design session, and it reviews launched products' business results 3-6 months later.

Preparing the presentation

The product manager should get help from his manager and brief council members individually beforehand so no one is surprised in the meeting.

03From the post

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

04Frameworks mentioned

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