What is a Cross-Functional Team?
When a new product concept is mooted, a Cross-Functional Team is formed to act as the business that will support every aspect of the product. This means that members are drawn from all relevant functions within the business and from external stakeholders where necessary. Representatives from the following departments are usually included: • product management; • engineering; • marketing; • sales; • customer service; • operations; • compliance; • finance; • IT The members of the team are peers irrespective of their seniority within the organization. They are led by the Product Manager who is considered to be the “Business Head”. To start with being part of a Cross-Functional Product Team can be fairly stressful. This is due to the team dynamics and standard stages that teams go through as they develop. In order for a team to reach its potential and start performing, it has to go through various stages that were identified by Dr. Bruce Truckman. These are forming, storming, norming and p
