1. Clarify product ownership and role alignment
We recommended a management model in which the CEO sets strategic direction and success criteria, product leadership translates them into priorities, and product owners take responsibility for agreed outcomes.
Product initiatives would be presented as business cases, with a defined goal, resource requirements, target measures, and stopping criteria. This gave leadership a concrete way to discuss autonomy and accountability together.
Individualized recommendations proposed redistributing responsibilities in line with team members’ thinking strengths.
2. Separate technology strategy from delivery
The report proposed a clearer division between responsibility for architecture, technical standards, and long-term technology direction, and responsibility for staffing, sprint planning, and delivery.
A defined route for product teams to request engineering resources would make priorities, capacity constraints, and escalation points easier to discuss.
3. Establish a dedicated growth function
We proposed a Growth Office to investigate new markets and test demand before committing substantial development resources. Its remit included customer discovery, small experiments, backlog review, and the handover of supported opportunities to product teams.
The report also recommended strengthening government relations and international compliance capabilities to support expansion into relevant markets.
4. Make collaboration practical for each person
Each employee received individual instructions on how to communicate with the other team members. This went beyond general team communication rules: the guidance addressed how to work with different colleagues.
The manager also received guidance on how to lead the team. Together, these instructions translated the assessment into practical support for everyday communication and management, alongside the recommendations on roles and organizational structure.
The employee guidance distinguished between communicating with a manager, collaborating with peers, and working with direct reports. It included practical advice on presenting results, preparing concise updates, and adapting discussions to different colleagues. The CEO’s guide addressed delegation, autonomy, feedback, recognition, and protecting employees’ focus, with separate recommendations for individual team members.
Recommendations included leadership reviews focused on priorities and blockers, cross-functional meetings around handoffs, team retrospectives, and individual conversations about results, barriers, and development.
For urgent requests, we recommended making the business reason, expected result, deadline, and escalation path explicit. For focused work, the report proposed protected time and clearer agreements about workload and interruptions.
