Episode 183: Building a Team Culture of Ownership and Collaboration with Todd Wilkens

Product Thinking

Todd Wilkens joined our host Melissa Perri on the latest episode of the Product Thinking podcast. Todd started his career in design and gradually transitioned into product development, now serving as the Chief Product Officer at Qualio.

In this engaging episode, Todd shares his background in computer science and design, his experience at various companies, including large companies and rapid-growth stage companies, and why he has always seen himself as something of a generalist.

The pair discuss the importance of collaboration, shared goals, and breaking down disciplinary boundaries in organizations. They also get into the debate around whether product managers are necessary or if UX designers and engineers can handle the role.

Don't miss out on this insightful conversation!

You’ll hear them talk about:

• 04:34 - Designers Stepping into Product Management Roles
  
  

Todd discusses the potential for UX designers to step into product management roles, drawing on his past experience. At Atlassian, the product management culture was less developed than engineering and design, allowing designers to naturally fill gaps in product management. Although designers did not officially take on product management roles, they often assumed similar responsibilities, leveraging their strong design and user research skills. This overlap allowed for a seamless integration of user experience into product decisions, enhancing overall product quality. In later roles, particularly at Automatic, Todd formally took on product management responsibilities, gaining firsthand experience and credibility to coach others in similar transitions.

• 13:33 - Implementing Shared Goals and Celebrating Outcomes
  
  

Todd describes how he implemented shared goals at Qualio to foster a collaborative and outcome-focused culture. When he joined, the engineering team felt burdened by the lack of support from product management and design. By rebuilding these teams with well-rounded individuals and clarifying their roles, Todd helped shift the focus towards customer impact. He encouraged the team to celebrate achievements that improved customer or colleague experiences, moving away from metrics like commits or bug counts.

• 36:58 - Scaling Culture Through Shared Competencies and Trust
  
  

Todd highlights the challenges and strategies of scaling a company's culture while maintaining collaboration and efficiency. He argues that as companies grow, they often encounter issues with siloing and disciplinary boundaries. To combat this, Todd emphasizes the importance of building a culture based on trust, empowerment, and a shared set of goals. By establishing clear, shared competencies across product, design, and engineering teams, he ensures that everyone is aligned and working towards the same objectives. He introduces a skills matrix and role definition framework that he has developed and refined over several companies. This framework includes shared competencies such as user science and understanding, strategic thinking, and collaboration, with specific competencies tailored to each discipline's craft.
Episode Resources:

• Todd Wilkens
• Qualio
  
  

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Previous guests include: Shruti Patel of US Bank, Steve Wilson of Contrast Security, Bethany Lyons of KAWA Analytics, Tanya Johnson Chief Product Officer at Auror, Tom Eisenmann of Harvard Business School, Stephanie Leue of Doodle, Jason Fried of 37signals, Hubert Palan of Productboard, Blake Samic of Stripe and Uber, Quincy Hunte of Amazon Web Services
Check out our Top 3 episodes:

• Episode 177: The Evolution of User Research: A Conversation with Steve Portigal, Author of Interviewing Users
• Tackling Product Research with C. Todd Lombardo
• Episode 128: Scaling Product Operations with Blake Samic, Former Global Head of Product Operations at Stripe and Uber

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