Are you a feature factory or a modern product organization?

Have you ever felt like your organization is stuck? You’ve adopted “agile,” hired product managers and designers, yet most of the time seems consumed by churning out features with little measurable impact. You’re not alone.

Every product organization evolves, and understanding this journey is crucial—not just to recognize where you are now, but to chart where you need to go next. Below is a six-stage maturity model for product development, showing the path from chaotic execution to shared, strategic ownership.

Stage 1: Waterfall (without design)
Stage 2: Agile (with a designer)
Stage 3: The feature factory
Stage 4: The PM-led phase
Stage 5: The experience-led phase
Stage 6: The product operations model

Stage 1: Waterfall (without design)

At this stage, the business defines the product strategy and hands it over to engineers for implementation, often without any involvement from designers or consideration of user needs. Development follows a rigid, sequential process where each step must be completed before moving to the next. The organization is slow to respond to changes, and there is little to no feedback loop from customers. The result is a product that may meet the original specifications but often fails to deliver real value or resonate with users.

Stage 2: Agile (with a designer)

At this stage, design becomes part of the development process, allowing teams to iterate faster and create more polished user interfaces. While development speed improves and the product looks better, strategy is still dictated by business leadership. Teams are executing plans rather than shaping them, and work remains largely tactical. User feedback may be collected, but it is primarily used to validate features rather than guide strategic decisions. The result is a faster, more visually appealing product, but one that still may not fully meet customer needs or drive meaningful outcomes.

Stage 3: The feature factory

At this stage, Product Managers are involved, but their role is mostly to coordinate tasks, manage backlogs, and ensure features are delivered on time. Product, design, and engineering teams often work in silos, with little cross-functional collaboration or shared strategic understanding. The focus is on output—producing as many features as possible—rather than outcomes or customer value. As a result, the organization can be highly efficient at building features, but many of them fail to create meaningful impact, leading to frustration, wasted effort, and team burnout.

Stage 4: The PM-led phase

At this stage, Product Managers take on a more strategic role, acting as “mini-CEOs” of their product areas. They begin to own both product and business goals, making decisions that go beyond simply managing backlogs. Teams gain more autonomy, and the organization starts to think about outcomes rather than just outputs. However, processes are often inconsistent and heavily dependent on individuals. Customer insights and data are still handled mostly by the Product Manager, rather than being embedded systematically across the organization. The result is increased strategic focus and autonomy, but with variability in execution and limited scalability.

Stage 5: The experience-led phase

At this stage, Product and UX/Design teams share strategic ownership of the product. Customer research and insights are actively used to shape decisions, rather than simply validating pre-defined features. The organization shifts its focus from outputs to meaningful outcomes, designing not just features but the entire customer experience. Collaboration between teams is high, and decisions are guided by data and user feedback. The result is a product that delivers real value to customers and aligns closely with business goals, creating a more cohesive and user-centered approach to product development.

Stage 6: The product operations model

At this stage, ownership of the product is shared across all key roles—Product, Design, Technology, and Business. Strategic and operational layers are fully connected through shared data, transparent OKRs, and consistent rituals that ensure alignment. Teams work collaboratively, making decisions based on data and customer insights, and everyone takes accountability for both product and business outcomes. The result is a fully autonomous, scalable, and high-performing organization where product strategy, execution, and customer value are seamlessly integrated, enabling sustainable growth and continuous improvement.

Where are you?

This model isn’t a judgment—it’s a mirror. Identifying your stage honestly is the first step toward improvement, requiring a mindset shift from execution to learning and shared ownership.

Further reading on product operations

Product Ops Overview
Product Operations: The Fuel for Winning Product Strategies