Organizing for Ownership

Overview
Organizing teams in traditional ways often creates ownership problems, leading to cross-team dependencies and reduced accountability. The author shares observations from his experience at Amazon and offers alternative structures that align teams around business outcomes.

Key Takeaways

• Splitting teams by technology (front-end/back-end) creates cross-team overhead and weakens ownership.
• Functional org charts give managers expertise but still fragment responsibility for business goals.
• Organizing around outcomes, with teams owning end-to-end value, improves accountability and speed.
• Small teams should avoid unnecessary dependencies and treat schedule slips as unacceptable excuses.

Who Would Benefit

• Engineering managers looking to restructure teams.
• CTOs and technical leaders seeking better ownership models.
• Product leaders interested in aligning engineering with business outcomes.
• Startup founders planning team growth.

Frameworks and Methodologies

• Outcome-oriented team structuring.
• Two-pizza team concept (small, autonomous teams).
• Cross-functional ownership without functional silos.