6. Case Study - OLX Pay

In this case study, we’ll explore the governance and monitoring processes used to launch and manage the OLX Pay product. I’ll walk you through the high-level complexity, challenges, and solutions we applied to ensure a successful product launch, especially given the tight timeline and cross-functional demands.

Background

OLX Pay was launched as part of a new payment and delivery system on the OLX platform during the pandemic. Prior to this, OLX did not offer an integrated payment solution. The product’s rapid development required intense collaboration across multiple teams, addressing new financial, operational, and logistical functions OLX hadn’t previously managed. This endeavor involved:

1. Cross-functional coordination: 17 squads from different tribes collaborated for the initial launch, with 8 squads continuing post-launch in a business-as-usual setting.
2. High expectations from senior management: OLX Pay held significant financial potential, making it highly visible to senior leadership, who closely monitored its progress.

Given these factors, a strong governance structure was essential for alignment, efficient decision-making, and maintaining momentum across the project.

Governance Structure at OLX Pay

The governance process at OLX Pay was built around three core committees to address the project’s operational complexity and ensure high-level visibility. Here’s how each committee functioned:

1. Operations Committee (Mondays)

• Purpose: Managed the day-to-day logistical and operational requirements, aligning the product’s functionality with OLX’s payment and delivery operations.
• Participants: Operations team members who were directly involved in the product’s logistics, payment processing, and delivery mechanisms.
• Format: This committee focused on ensuring the operational processes were synchronized and that issues were swiftly addressed.

2. Product Committee (Wednesdays)

• Frequency: Weekly, for two and a half hours.
• Participants: All squad members, including marketing, legal, risk, finance, and product management teams.
• Purpose: This committee handled product-level decisions, blockers, inter-squad coordination, and tactical adjustments. It allowed all relevant stakeholders to raise issues, resolve conflicts, and ensure alignment on delivery goals.
• Structure:
  • Status Update: Each squad had a brief time slot to report progress, key risks, and any blockers.
  • Decision-Making: Deliberative format where squads discussed blockers, cross-squad dependencies, and prioritized tactical decisions.
  • Coordination: Emphasis was placed on addressing dependencies and ensuring that squads working on interdependent components were aligned.

3. Management Team Status Report (Fridays)

• Frequency: Weekly.
• Participants: Senior management, including product, technology, design directors, and the CEO.
• Purpose: Provided an executive summary of the week’s progress and key metrics. The report was concise and allowed senior management to ask questions and provide feedback.
• Format:
  • One-Page Report: A simple one-page summary covering main metrics, progress, and issues.
  • Presentation & Q&A: Fifteen minutes total, with five to seven minutes of presenting followed by a Q&A session for any clarifications or recommendations from senior leadership.

Tools for Governance and Monitoring

1. Unified Deck on Google Slides: To streamline information sharing, all discussions and decisions were tracked in a single, continuously updated Google Slides deck. While not ideal, this centralized location allowed for transparency and accessibility, providing a full history of project decisions and progress.

2. One-Page Status Report: A weekly report for senior management offered a straightforward overview of performance metrics and project status. This brief yet informative document ensured senior leaders had a clear picture of progress and challenges without needing to dive into minute details.

3. Product Committee Deliberations: The Wednesday product committee was structured for open, deliberative discussions. Key stakeholders, including PMs, engineering managers, and designers, were present to make informed decisions and address risks and blockers collaboratively.

4. Customer Experience (CX) Team Involvement: Given the product’s focus on user satisfaction, CX was allocated a fixed 20-minute slot to provide insights on key performance indicators (KPIs) like Net Promoter Score (NPS). This allowed the product team to proactively address customer concerns raised by the CX team.

Lessons Learned: Effective Governance Practices

This approach to governance at OLX Pay highlights several key takeaways that can be applied to other product launches:

1. Cross-Functional Visibility: Having representatives from various teams (e.g., legal, finance, risk) in regular meetings ensured that the product aligned with broader organizational goals and compliance standards. It also minimized miscommunication, as all stakeholders were kept in the loop.

2. Deliberative Meetings for Quick Decisions: Product-related meetings focused on immediate decision-making, resolving issues promptly to maintain momentum and reduce delays. This was crucial for a product requiring high inter-team coordination.

3. Transparent Reporting: Using a one-page status report helped senior management stay informed without getting overwhelmed by details, and it allowed them to ask targeted questions.

4. Centralized Information Repository: Maintaining a single, continuously updated Google Slides deck enabled team members to access the history of all decisions and discussions, facilitating better alignment and context awareness.

Conclusion

Launching OLX Pay during the pandemic, with its high complexity and financial potential, required an agile, structured governance process. By leveraging three distinct committees, OLX was able to synchronize cross-functional teams and provide senior management with the visibility needed to track progress effectively. This structure ensured rapid alignment and clear communication, helping OLX navigate the product’s complexities and successfully bring it to market.

In conclusion, every organization will need to tailor its governance model to fit its unique culture, product complexity, and team structure. The OLX Pay experience shows the importance of deliberate governance structures and the adaptability required for large-scale, cross-functional product launches.