Teams that own their progress and shape their composition
Let’s start with research by J. Richard Hackman from the 1980s. His framework outlines key differences between three types of teams:
- Manager-led teams
- Self-managing teams
- Self-designing teams
Manager-led teams operate under traditional authority — the leader owns planning and progress. The assumption here is that leadership can direct outcomes more effectively than individual team members.
Self-managing teams, on the other hand, monitor and manage their own work and progress. This model gives team members more control over how they operate.
But self-designing teams go even further. These teams not only manage their own work — they decide who’s on the team, assess their own competence, and even hire or restructure as needed. In traditional organizations, this level of autonomy is usually reserved for executive teams.
Teams that define their own tools, methods, and goals
Hackman’s model also identifies a rare but powerful form of team: the empowered autonomous team.
These teams don’t just manage themselves — they define their own mission, values, standards, and success criteria within the boundaries of the organization’s overarching goals. They choose their own tools and processes, often working across disciplines and domains.
While the broader company vision still provides direction, these teams tailor that vision to their context and evolve it as needed. This model has gained popularity among modern leaders because it consistently proves more effective than rigid, centralized structures.
More here.
Teams that reorganize around value — not hierarchy
Most companies today are still built on structures from the last century. Those models aimed to improve predictability, profitability, and control. But in today’s digital economy, the only sustainable competitive advantage is how fast your organization can sense and respond to changing customer needs.
This requires more flexibility — and a willingness to organize around value streams, not departments.
A value stream begins with an important trigger — a customer request, a product requirement, or a feature demand — and ends when value is delivered, whether through a product launch, a purchase, or a service rollout. Everything in between are the steps the team takes to fulfill that need.
When teams are organized around value, they learn faster, ship faster, and deliver higher quality with greater efficiency.
Read more.
The anatomy of a dream team
The dream team is cross-functional and competent. It adapts its structure to maximize customer value. It understands the user deeply and knows which tools and workflows to use to achieve self-defined goals.
There’s a lot to unpack here, and in future posts, we’ll share more actionable guidance to help teams evolve in this direction — and build better products along the way.
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