Jim Collins’ Good to Great is one of the most widely regarded business books of the modern era, offering profound insights into what separates good companies from truly great ones. One of the central themes Collins emphasizes is the importance of getting “the right people on the bus” and ensuring they are in “the right seats.” This concept applies just as powerfully to product management teams, where success often hinges on having the right individuals empowered to make meaningful decisions.
The Right People on the Bus
Collins argues that before any company can achieve greatness, it must first focus on getting the right people on board. This principle applies directly to building successful product management teams. It’s not just about having talented individuals, but ensuring that those individuals have a strong alignment with the company’s values and vision. In the world of product management, having the right product managers, freelance product owners, or even interim product managers can make all the difference between delivering mediocre products or driving innovation that impacts the business at scale.
For product managers, this means recruiting not just for skills, but for mindset and culture fit. A team that understands both the business strategy and customer needs is far more likely to lead to long-term success. By aligning the right people with the right projects, companies can ensure their product strategies are both visionary and executable.
The Right Seats: Empowerment in Product Management
In Good to Great, Collins also stresses the importance of placing those people in “the right seats”—positions where they can fully leverage their skills and potential. This analogy works perfectly when thinking about product management teams. It’s not enough to simply hire talented product professionals; they must be empowered to own key decisions and have the autonomy to steer product direction.
Just as Collins discusses empowering people to take responsibility for key business decisions, product managers and product owners should have the right level of authority to prioritize their product backlogs, define product strategy, and solve the most pressing user problems. Without empowerment, even the most talented teams can be reduced to mere feature factories, executing stakeholder demands without fully understanding the customer impact.
Product teams need to be involved in the discovery process, shaping what gets built rather than just executing someone else’s vision. This ensures that their unique expertise is fully utilized and that the product aligns with both customer needs and business goals.
Why the Right Team Matters for Product Success
When thinking about how to build a great product management team, Collins’ message is clear: it starts with getting the right people and empowering them with the right responsibilities. In the product management world, this means ensuring your product managers and freelance product owners are not just executors, but strategic leaders within the company.
Hiring an interim product manager or adding a product consultant can be a highly effective way to quickly bring experienced professionals into the fold, particularly when a team is missing certain key skills. However, they need to be integrated into a team culture that values autonomy, decision-making, and strategic problem-solving.
Conclusion: Putting the Right Butts in the Right Seats
Just as Jim Collins emphasizes the importance of the right people in the right seats for a company to go from good to great, the same is true for product management. At BlueHeads, we specialize in building and supporting product management teams by providing access to the right people—those who can sit in the right seats and drive meaningful product outcomes. Our network of interim product managers and product management coaches is designed to help businesses ensure their product teams are empowered and aligned with business goals from day one.
By following Collins’ advice and focusing on getting the right people on your team—and giving them the right roles—your organization can turn great product ideas into great products, driving long-term success.
