Working With Cross-Functional Teams by Microsoft Sr PM, Chakkaradeep Chandran 

How to work effectively with cross-functional teams. 

As a product manager you are the CEO of you product. 

As a product manager, you are the CEO of your product. But this is not always the case. As a product manager, you still don't have the authority. But you are Accountable.Product Managers need to work with various cross-functional teams.  

Work with cross-functional teams. 

Why is it hard. 

• Different Goals.  

• Different Priorities.  

• Different Products.  

• Teams Alignment.  

• Leadership Alignment. 

Managing relationships is hard. 

Common challenges. 

• Gaining trust. 

• Organizational Alignment. 

• Effective Communication. 

What Product Managers can do. 

• Understand each other's domain. 

• Be outcome driven. 

• Build relationships. 

Understand each other's domain. 

• Do you homework. 

• Meet and Greet. 

• Get to know about their product, work and culture. 

• Listen first, clarify later. 

• Use a shared vocabulary. 

Be outcome driven. 

Turn conversations into outcomes-driven.  

Understand each other's goals.  

• The sales team's goal could be that they want to drive up the revenue by x%. 

• The engineering team's goal could be to move quicker with release to production cycles every sprint. 

Find the common ground. 

Build relationships. 

• Get to know each other and build trust. 

• Share challenges and outcomes together. 

• Help each other succed. 

• Learn/Fail together. 

• Stay connected. 

Chakkaradeep Chandran, Microsoft Sr PM.