The product team empowerment spectrum

The practical benefits of moving from "best" to "better" practice

Every product team and company sits on a spectrum of empowerment, somewhere between "feature factory hell" (0) and "empowered nirvana" (100).

I’d guesstimate the best product companies in the world—Amazon, Stripe, Netflix, etc—are somewhere between 85-95 on this scale.

This has a few implications for everyone who doesn't work in a strong product culture today:

(1) While it's very useful to have a mental, theoretical model of what "excellent" looks like, even the best in the world aren't doing it 100% perfect.

(2) The first step to being a strong product company is to become a *stronger* product company. Don't let best practice block better practice by paralyzing you. Make progress, and then make some more. One step at a time.

(3) The next steps you need to take to become a stronger product team/company depend on where you are now.

(4) Transformation does take time, patience, and resilience. It's not just you. It's hard.

If you're feeling like the day-to-day reality of an average Tuesday on your product team doesn't look much like empowered nirvana-land, you *do* have options.