3. Leadership Structure in Product Teams

In this section, we'll explore the different leadership structures within product teams, providing examples from my experiences at ContaAzul, Gympass, and other organizations. We'll discuss the benefits and challenges of shared versus unified leadership and the importance of maintaining a cohesive product development team, regardless of the structure.

Leadership Structure at ContaAzul

At ContaAzul, when the team size was around 130 people, I held the role of Chief Product Officer (CPO), with the following reporting structure:

As the team continued to grow, we anticipated a restructuring where the CTO would no longer report to me but would become my peer. We envisioned him having two senior engineering leaders and one senior infrastructure leader under his responsibility, while I would continue overseeing GPMs and UX.

If the team grew beyond 300 people, we considered splitting the product management function into two divisions, each led by a director—one focused on small business owners and the other on accountants, the two main personas of our business.

Leadership Structure at Gympass

At Gympass, we initially structured the leadership into three distinct roles:

  1. CTO: Responsible for technology and engineering.
  2. CPO for End Users: Focused on the end-user experience, managing directors of product and UX who worked on employee users (the employees of Gympass' client companies).
  3. CPO for B2B and Partners: My role, where I managed directors of product focused on B2B clients (corporations) and partners (such as gyms). Additionally, I led the Professional Services team, responsible for integrating with gym systems and HR systems from corporate clients.

This tripartite leadership worked well, but at some point, we decided to centralize the leadership. We appointed an Executive Vice President (EVP) of Product Development who oversaw the entire product development structure.

Shared vs. Unified Leadership

There are two common approaches to leadership in product teams:

  1. Shared Leadership: In this structure, the roles of CTO and CPO are distinct. The CTO focuses on technology, while the CPO handles product strategy. Shared leadership prevents overloading a single leader, allowing each to specialize in their domain—technology for the CTO and product strategy for the CPO.

  2. Unified Leadership: One leader manages both product and technology. This avoids silos, fostering a more integrated team with a single, clear vision for the entire product development organization.

A term often used for unified leadership is CTPO (Chief Technology and Product Officer), which combines the roles of CTO and CPO.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Each Approach

My Experience with Leadership Structures

Throughout my career, I have experienced both leadership models. At Locaweb, ContaAzul, and Lopes, I worked under unified leadership, where I oversaw both product and technology. At Gympass, I worked in a shared leadership model with a CTO as my counterpart.

While both models can work, I personally prefer the unified leadership structure. Despite the challenges of overload and bias, it creates a more cohesive team. However, finding leaders who are equally adept at handling both product and technology is rare, which is why shared leadership with separate CTO and CPO roles is more common.

In some organizations, the CTO may be the C-level executive, with a Head of Product reporting to them. This Head of Product is often being groomed to eventually step into a C-level role.

A Unified Product Development Team

Regardless of the leadership structure, it's critical to always think of the team as a single product development team. This includes product management, engineering, UX/design, data, and other necessary functions. When I joined Gympass, I insisted on being part of the selection process for the new CTO, ensuring that we operated with one shared budget for the entire product development team.

It's essential that the team doesn’t fragment into "product vs. engineering." It must function as a single, unified team working toward a common goal: delivering the best product possible.

Time Allocation as a Product Leader

An interesting topic for aspiring product leaders is how time is allocated once you become a leader. Many people who seek leadership roles believe that being a product leader means spending the majority of time on vision and strategy. However, the reality is that strategy only accounts for about 10% of your time.

The remaining 90% is split between two main activities:

  1. Developing Product Managers (10-40%): Depending on the seniority of your team, you’ll spend more or less time helping them grow. With more junior team members, you may need to spend up to 40% of your time on their development. With a senior team, this may drop to 10%.

  2. Managing Expectations (50-80%): A significant portion of your time will be spent managing the expectations and anxieties of stakeholders, customers, and other teams. This can range from 50% to 80% of your time, depending on the tools and processes you use to manage expectations.

If you find yourself spending 120% of your time across these activities, you won’t have much left for strategy. To free up time for strategic thinking, you need to build a strong team and use effective tools to manage expectations.

In summary, leadership in product teams can take many forms, whether shared or unified. Each structure has its benefits and challenges, but what's most important is maintaining a unified product development team. As a leader, balancing your time between developing your team, managing expectations, and focusing on vision and strategy is essential for long-term success.