Smaller teams spend less time on internal communication and coordination. In fact, adding a seventh person to a six-person team can actually reduce overall efficiency; the extra coordination costs outweigh the benefits of another contributor.

I believe America is strongest when — and because — it welcomes diversity, including immigrants, international students, and LGBTQ+ folks. That belief, to me, is deeply patriotic. Happy 4th.

I’ve written before about the value of mining for conflict, especially when stakeholders say they’re aligned, but you want to be sure. One effective technique is to go around the room (or their screens) and ask each stakeholder, “What could go wrong with this plan?”

Do you know the history of Product Management? Lore is, it started at the consumer goods company Procter & Gamble, which advertised a job called “Brand Manager.” This person needed to build a cross-functional team around the company: with scientists who came up with ideas for new bars of soap, designers who created packaging, marketers who worked on pricing, etc.

The CMO of a SaaS company argued for a fairly broad target market definition because it would be easier to make his numbers. Meanwhile, the CPO wanted the target market to be narrower, as it meant the customer needs would be more similar, and product and engineering could focus on making them very successful.

I met the CEO of a small semiconductor company who had 40% annual growth for over a decade. “What was his secret?” I asked, expecting him to say “cutting edge technology” or “really smart employees.” But no.

When a meeting is going south, it is wise to check your own attitude. We tend to judge other people’s mistakes differently than our own. So give people the benefit of doubt. They are usually trying to do the right thing from their own point of view.

Execs tend to think in terms of broad goals, like revenue, growth, and profit. But these goals are often too generic and slow-moving to be useful in day-to-day work of a product team.

I led a Chief Product Officer workshop at ProductCamp Boston last week, where senior execs shared war stories and strategies. A popular question: how long do CPOs have at a new job to make a difference?

Understanding your org structure will help you identify hidden stakeholders and their goals. We’ve talked about Functional, Matrix, and Value Stream orgs here. Divisional organizations combine one or more of these structures into a super organization. General Electric, for example, has lines of business such as Aerospace, Digital, and Power, each forming their own division.