Achieving Strategic Goals with Faster, More Effective Delivery

Introduction

A fast-growing tech startup was scaling quickly, but as the company expanded, the product and engineering teams faced challenges that were slowing their ability to deliver on the company’s strategic goals. With no clear process for defining business requirements, teams struggled to understand what was most important, leading to confusion about priorities and wasted effort. Product managers were still refining their role, and as a result, the quality of requirements lacked the clarity needed for engineers to effectively execute.

Competing priorities added to the complexity. With an evolving product and the need to address multiple stakeholder demands, teams found it difficult to focus on the initiatives that would drive the most value. Additionally, a disconnect between engineering and users meant the team wasn’t always equipped with the right context, leading to features that didn’t fully meet customer needs.

Recognizing the need to establish a more structured and effective approach, the CTO took action to ensure that the company could scale successfully. We led the effort to clarify roles, improve the quality of requirements, and create a streamlined process that would help teams focus on high-impact work aligned with the company’s strategic objectives. Through this effort, we ensured that both product and engineering teams could execute efficiently and drive meaningful results for the business.

The Problem

As the company scaled, alignment between the product and engineering teams became increasingly difficult, preventing meaningful progress toward the company’s strategic goals. Several key challenges were contributing to the growing disconnect:

• New Product Management Function: The product management function was still new within the company, and as such, lacked the maturity and processes needed to ensure effective collaboration with the engineering team. The product managers were still defining their role and trying to establish a clear vision for the product roadmap, leading to confusion about ownership and priorities.
• Unclear Priorities: The absence of a structured process for defining business requirements and aligning teams led to confusion about which goals should take precedence. This lack of clarity resulted in wasted resources and efforts spent on initiatives that didn’t align with the company’s highest priorities, slowing down progress toward strategic objectives.
• Unclear Roles and Ownership: The lack of defined ownership and decision-making authority resulted in delayed decisions and a fragmented approach to product development. Additionally, stakeholders had become accustomed to going directly to a go-to person on the engineering team for answers, further diverting attention away from what was most important and contributing to wasted efforts and inefficiency.
• Complex, Unfocused Product Roadmap: The product roadmap had grown increasingly complex and unfocused, with competing initiatives and unclear deliverables. Without a shared understanding of priorities, teams were stretched too thin, and resources were being misallocated, resulting in low-impact work and slow progress toward meaningful business outcomes.
• Disconnect Between Engineering and End Users: There was a significant gap in understanding between the engineering team and the end users. The engineering team lacked context on how users were interacting with the product, and this disconnect led to missed opportunities to build features that truly met customer needs. The team was building without fully grasping the real-world impact of their work, further derailing progress toward the company’s goals.

Without addressing these challenges, the company risked slowing down its growth, wasting valuable resources, and missing key market opportunities due to misalignment between product and engineering teams and a lack of clear direction toward strategic objectives.

The Results

Through an in-depth review of the underlying causes of the challenges, we identified critical gaps and implemented targeted solutions. In just 2 months, the project resulted in substantial improvements in team performance, product delivery, and alignment with business goals, including:

• 30% Improvement in Delivery Speed: By clarifying roles, standardizing requirements, and aligning teams around business objectives, the company experienced a 30% improvement in delivery speed, enabling faster time-to-market for high-priority initiatives.
• Reduced Rework by 25%: Standardized templates for documenting business requirements and expected outcomes helped engineering teams work more efficiently, reducing rework by 25% and allowing for a more focused and creative approach to product development.
• 40% Increase in Goal Achievement: Teams consistently delivered on strategic objectives, exceeding leadership’s expectations and driving measurable business impact. This led to a 40% increase in goal achievement, aligning efforts with company priorities and accelerating progress toward key business outcomes.
• Improved Engineering Innovation: With clearer, more contextual requirements, engineering teams were empowered to develop more innovative and high-impact solutions. This resulted in solutions that not only met business needs but also offered creative ways to exceed them.
• Enhanced Leadership Confidence: The CEO and leadership team reported a significant boost in confidence during quarterly business reviews, thanks to the improved alignment across product and engineering teams. They felt more confident in the teams' ability to execute and deliver on the company’s strategic goals.

These outcomes directly contributed to the company’s ability to scale efficiently and align product and engineering efforts with broader strategic goals. By focusing on clear communication, goal-driven execution, and fostering innovation, the company is now better positioned to drive long-term success and meet evolving business needs.

How We Helped

This project engagement was completed over 2 months, with ongoing iterations to refine processes as the teams grew more aligned. We worked closely with product and engineering leadership to create a sustainable foundation for improved collaboration, clearer requirements, and stronger alignment with business goals. Key steps included:

How You Can Take Action

If your company is facing issues like missed product goals, slow feature adoption, or delays in meeting delivery deadlines, Ready Steady can help. We’ve worked with companies across industries, from growth-stage startups to organizations with $900M in ARR, to streamline operations and ensure product and engineering teams are focused on what drives the business forward. Whether you're grappling with unclear requirements, shifting priorities, or difficulty scaling processes, here's how we can support you:

• Programs to Align Teams with Strategic Goals: We’ll help you break down your company’s strategic goals and map them to actionable objectives, ensuring all teams understand how their work drives business impact.
• Processes to Standardize Requirements and Outcomes: We’ll create clear, consistent templates for documenting business requirements and expected outcomes, enabling product and engineering teams to collaborate efficiently and execute effectively.
• Programs to Empower Engineers with Direct User Insights: We’ll develop programs that provide your engineering teams the opportunity to interact with users, helping them build more context-driven solutions.
• Workshops to Improve Cross-Functional Collaboration: We’ll facilitate regular planning sessions and optimize communication processes to improve collaboration between product and engineering teams, ensuring alignment and faster decision-making.
• Coaching to Build a Goal-Driven Execution Culture: We’ll coach your leadership teams and staff on how to shift from output-focused work to delivering measurable, strategic outcomes that drive long-term business success.

Whether you're facing alignment challenges, improving team efficiency, or looking for a strategic roadmap to scale, Ready Steady provides the tools and support to help you execute with confidence.

Ready to align your teams and scale your success? Let’s talk.