On Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 2:16 PM, Platonides Platonides@gmail.com wrote:
You can see several teams in that page, with members from multiple "sections". Which leads to the (naive?) question on what's the purpose of being splitted in those sections if then the work is done in teams with a completely different organization.
The purpose of functional groupings is to ensure that there is coordination and communication among people who share a function (e.g. all designers), and that they have management support, ideally from someone who understands their function and purpose in the organization, and is able to help them grow in their career and as an individual contributor. It creates escalation points in case of conflicts, and can help to remove blockers.
The purpose of team groupings is to ensure that a team is assembled cross-functionally, from all the required skills, and fully focused on delivering its objectives.
The two organizational models are complementary; the singular focus on one or the other tends to lead to silos. Achieving a healthy balance between intra-functional team development and growth and cross-functional delivery is one of the key challenges of management.
Erik