Building Better Products: The Role of the Product Trio and How to Implement It

Hello everyone, welcome to Mastering Product, my new Linkedin newsletter as well as substack focused on topics related to product management.

I will be sharing content on both destinations, however, my substack will include additional content down the road as well as a community chat that will be enabled later on.

Alright, enough of that, lets get to it!

“Product trio” is a terminology or a phrase used to refer to their roles within a product team/squad, in this post I dive into definitions of these roles, explain why a product trio is needed for a cross functional and agile product team to function well and I explain towards the end of the article what are some of the best practices in transitioning into this model.

Each role within the trio has distinct responsibilities but works together to create successful products. Here's a breakdown of each role:

1. Product Manager: The product manager is responsible for defining the overall strategy, vision, and roadmap of the product. They gather insights from customers, stakeholders, and market research to identify user needs and market opportunities. The product manager sets the product's direction, prioritizes features, and ensures alignment with business goals. They collaborate closely with the engineering lead and UX designer to translate requirements into actionable tasks and guide the development process.
2. Engineering Lead/Sr. Engineer: The engineering lead, sometimes referred to as the technical lead or development lead, is responsible for overseeing the technical aspects of product development. They provide technical expertise, guide the engineering team, and ensure the product is built efficiently, securely, and with high quality. The engineering lead collaborates with the product manager and UX designer to understand the product requirements, estimate project timelines, and identify any technical constraints or challenges.
3. UX Designer: The UX designer focuses on creating a positive and seamless user experience for the product. They conduct user research, gather user feedback, and apply design principles to develop user-centric interfaces and interactions. The UX designer works closely with the product manager and engineering lead to understand user needs, define product features, and ensure the design aligns with technical feasibility. They create wireframes, prototypes, and design specifications that guide the development process.

Together, the product manager, engineering lead, and UX designer form a collaborative team that combines business strategy, technical expertise, and user-centered design to create successful products. Effective communication, coordination, and mutual understanding are crucial for the trio's success in delivering products that meet user needs and business objectives.

Reporting lines are separated and each craft reports into its craft manager, to say it plainly, no one in the product team reports into the product manager.

The detailed setup of reporting lines changes based on the size of the team of each craft, the maturity of the existing people managers and the maturity of the organisation itself, if this is of interest, please comment below and let me know and I will dedicate a post for this topic.

Why is a product trio needed?

Lets start with the basics, a product trio is part of a cross functional product team, serving as the leadership of that team, a product team can range from a bare minimum of 3 people, to more than 10, although the usual number is between 5 and 7, this can change allot based on the scope of the team and the maturity and size of the product.

Setting up cross functional teams and moving to this model will be a post on its own, for now and for the sake of keeping this under 10 minutes reading, I will focus on the product trio component in the product team setup.

So what are some of the reasons a product trio is a good idea?

1. Collaboration and Alignment: The product manager, engineering lead, and UX designer bring different perspectives and areas of expertise to the table. Their collaboration helps ensure that the product's strategy, technical implementation, and user experience are all aligned. By working together closely, they can make informed decisions, resolve conflicts, and find optimal solutions that balance user needs, technical feasibility, and business goals.
2. User-Centric Approach: The trio's composition emphasizes the importance of user-centricity in product development. The product manager gathers user insights, the UX designer focuses on creating delightful user experiences, and the engineering lead ensures the technical feasibility of implementing those experiences. This collaboration ensures that the product is designed and developed with the end-users in mind, leading to higher customer satisfaction and engagement.
3. Holistic Product Development: By involving the product manager, engineering lead, and UX designer from the early stages of product development, a more holistic approach is taken. This helps avoid potential pitfalls and facilitates better decision-making throughout the product lifecycle. The trio can collectively consider technical constraints, market demands, business strategies, and user preferences, resulting in a more comprehensive and well-rounded product.
4. Efficient Execution: The product trio enables efficient execution of product development tasks. With clear roles and responsibilities, the team can streamline their efforts, prioritize work effectively, and avoid unnecessary rework or misalignment. The product manager ensures that the team is working on the most valuable features, the engineering lead optimizes the technical implementation, and the UX designer creates intuitive interfaces—all with a shared understanding of the overall product vision and goals.
5. Reduced Communication Gaps: Having a product trio promotes effective communication and reduces gaps between different functional areas. The trio members work closely together, facilitating regular communication, knowledge sharing, and cross-functional collaboration. This minimizes misunderstandings, ensures everyone is on the same page, and promotes a cohesive team dynamic.

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Best practices in setting up a product trio

One of the best practices was mentioned earlier, no one reports into the product manager within the product team, some of the other best practices are:

1. Clear Roles and Responsibilities: Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each team member within the product trio. Establishing a shared understanding of individual contributions and expectations helps streamline collaboration and avoids potential confusion or overlaps.
2. Shared Product Vision: Ensure that the product trio shares a common understanding of the product vision, goals, and strategy. Regularly communicate and align on the purpose and direction of the product to maintain focus and cohesion within the team.
3. Effective Communication: Foster open and transparent communication within the team. Encourage frequent discussions, feedback sharing, and knowledge exchange. This helps align efforts, address challenges, and stay updated on progress, enabling the team to make informed decisions.
4. Collaborative Decision-Making: Emphasize collaborative decision-making within the product trio. Encourage each member to contribute their expertise and insights when making decisions related to product features, technical implementations, and user experience. Promote a culture of respect, active listening, and constructive feedback.
5. Agile Methodologies: Adopt agile methodologies, such as Scrum or Kanban, to promote iterative and incremental development. Agile practices facilitate regular team interactions, short feedback loops, and adaptability to changing requirements. This approach enables the product trio to quickly respond to market needs, incorporate user feedback, and deliver value incrementally.
6. User-Centric Approach: Prioritize a user-centric approach to product development. Conduct user research, involve the UX designer in the early stages of ideation, and regularly gather user feedback. By integrating user insights throughout the development process, the product trio can create products that truly meet user needs and expectations.
7. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Encourage cross-functional collaboration beyond the product trio. Foster strong relationships with other teams, such as marketing, sales, and customer support, to ensure alignment and facilitate a holistic approach to product development. Collaboration with other teams helps gather valuable insights, incorporate diverse perspectives, and optimize the overall product experience.
8. Continuous Learning and Improvement: Foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement within the product team. Encourage experimentation, embrace failure as an opportunity to learn, and regularly reflect on the team's processes and outcomes. Continuous improvement helps refine teamwork, optimize workflows, and drive innovation.

Are there exceptions to this model?

Yes, there can be exceptions to the product trio model based on the nature of the product and the specific needs of the team. While the product trio model emphasises collaboration between a product manager, engineering lead, and UX designer, certain scenarios may not require a dedicated UX designer.

In cases where the team's focus is primarily on the backend development, infrastructure, or APIs, the need for a UX designer may be minimal or different. The user experience in such cases may revolve more around system performance, reliability, and developer experience rather than end-user interactions.

However, it's important to note that even in backend or API-focused teams, there can still be considerations for user experience, especially when it comes to internal users or developers interacting with the systems. In such cases, while a dedicated UX designer may not be required, the team can still prioritize usability, documentation, and intuitive interfaces for developers using the backend or APIs.

Additionally, the product trio model is not an absolute rule but rather a guideline for effective collaboration and holistic product development. Organizations should adapt and customize their team structures based on their unique needs, product context, and available resources.

For teams without a dedicated UX designer, it's still valuable to have an awareness of user experience principles and involve team members with UX knowledge or experience in shaping the backend or API design to be user-friendly and developer-friendly.

Can the product trio be expanded to a product quartet ??

One area where organizations have been expanding the product team is in the realm of data. Given the increasing importance of data-driven decision-making and the rise of data-intensive products and services, some organizations have begun incorporating data-related roles into their product teams. Of course there is no telling how this will be impacted by chatgpt :)

These roles may include:

1. Data Analyst: Data analysts work closely with the product team to gather and analyze data, generate insights, and provide data-driven recommendations. They help identify trends, monitor product performance, and measure the impact of product changes. Data analysts play a crucial role in informing product strategy and optimizing decision-making based on data insights.
2. Data Scientist: Data scientists bring advanced statistical and machine learning expertise to the product team. They leverage data to build predictive models, conduct complex analyses, and develop algorithms to solve specific product challenges. Data scientists can contribute to enhancing personalization, recommendation systems, or other data-driven features of the product.
3. Data Engineer: Data engineers focus on managing and optimizing the data infrastructure and pipelines. They ensure efficient data collection, storage, and processing to support the product team's needs. Data engineers work closely with the engineering lead to implement scalable and r

Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that all aspects of the product development, whether it's front-end user interfaces or backend systems, align with user needs, business goals, and technical feasibility, even if the specific roles within the product trio may vary in certain scenarios.

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