Cross-Functional Teams In Digital Product Development

Cross-functional teams are very common in modern digital product development. They bring together diverse expertise from developers, designers, product managers, and other specialists to collaborate throughout the entire product lifecycle. 

McKinsey has found that agile product management, of which cross-functional teams are a staple, is the third most impactful characteristic of high-performing organizations. Big Tech leaders like Uber have been driving value with cross-functional teams for years. 

At Monterail, cross-functional collaboration helps us ensure that we build digital products with a focus on business value. Here lies the biggest advantage of this agile management strategy - instead of having different teams working in silos and focusing on deliverables, you can unite a team around one shared goal and focus on driving desired outcomes.

What Are Cross-Functional Teams?

The definition of a cross-functional team is:

“A group of people with different functional expertise working toward a common goal. [...] Typically, it includes employees from all levels of an organization. Members may also come from outside an organization (in particular, from suppliers, key customers, or consultants).”

When thinking about crucial roles in digital product development, a software developer is naturally the first person that comes to mind. But successful products require much more expertise than that. Designers, product managers, business analysts, QA specialists, marketing specialists - the list goes on.

The cross-functional team gets people from different fields to work on a product together from the start. Different points of view, sources of knowledge, and expertise from all team members converge toward one goal.

Experts have defined four characteristics of cross-functional teams. They should be:

• Complete - have the necessary resources, skills, and authority to strategize, decide, and execute. 

• Dedicated - ideally, each member should only work on one team, although it depends on the demands of the product.

• Long-lived - ideally, they should work together as long as it’s necessary to drive the desired outcomes.

• Autonomous - they should be independent from others teams, able to set their own direction and work without waiting for another team to deliver.

Benefits of Cross-Functional Teams in Digital Product Development

Probably the most significant benefit of cross-functional teams is combining different points of view. It would be great if we could have all the knowledge in the world, but we don't. Some of us excel in certain fields, some have experience that others lack. 

A developer may be amazing at writing crystal-clear code, but they may not have a good understanding of designing a flow that's understandable for the user. We all bring a different perspective to a product. When only one person works on a product, it only reflects their experience. But when we collaborate with our partners, we confront our points of view until we work out a final solution that satisfies everyone.

Just imagine a designer who creates beautiful wireframes only to learn it's impossible to code. That can be avoided if you include specialists with different perspectives at every stage of product development.

The second big thing is teamwork. I can't stress enough how much working together as a team brings people closer and improves communication 

Communication between team members is always a must. When we work together as a team during the entire project, we increase mutual trust and learn to respect each other. It's natural that we like some people more than others, but personal preferences shouldn't influence our work. That's why it's so important to build respect and trust, even if you're not going to hang out together after work.

If you've ever worked in a team, you probably know how important it is to stay focused on the same goal as a team. Besides, working together is just way more fun than playing solo. We're social animals, we need to interact.

With cross-functional teams, it’s easier for everyone to stay up to date on progress. We all need to know who's working on what at the moment and what the current problems are. Work doesn't always go according to plan, so sometimes we need to refine the plan to get the best result. This is only possible when we know what other team members are working on right now. 

This leads to faster reactions. When we're all up to date with the product and we work on it simultaneously instead of focusing exclusively on our own fields, there's no situation where only one person tests a product and important issues don’t get addressed.

In cross-functional teams, we not only spot bugs, we also flag issues that may cause friction for users. Then we can think about the solution and implement it right away, with no need to wait for fixes until the product is already built. 

One could make the point that initial designs should consider every edge case, and plan solutions before developers start building. But in the real world, some issues can only be spotted when testing already created parts of a product.

Cross-functional collaboration makes it easier to pivot and adapt to changing project requirements. Thanks to keeping on track with all issues as they arise, we can iterate our designs and code before the product is done. It frequently happens that although the code is clear and designs are pixel-perfect, things could be better from the point of view of a growth engineer.

But if a person responsible for product growth only joined the team after the product was done, the fixes would set the project back and require more time to apply. To avoid this, we can iterate the product on the spot and save a lot of work, time, and money. It's always better to build something right than to fix it afterward, right?

The ultimate outcome of all this is a better final product. The final product is the result of a deep understanding of its intended purpose and excellent execution in creating it. Every part of the product can be consulted with all team members. With multiple perspectives in the mix from the start of the project, there’s a much higher chance that all fundamental aspects of the product are properly crafted. As McKinsey notes, "innovative companies not only build cross-functional teams but also pool cross-functional data so that those teams gain a more holistic view of the business."

How To Prevent Issues In Cross-Functional Teams

As you can see, working in cross-functional teams is beneficial both for the members of the team and for the final result. However, as always, there are some challenging aspects of this approach, and it's good to keep them in mind when working in a cross-functional team.

One big issue that happens at the level of the whole organization and influences any team inside of it is collaboration drag. It means something that many working people know all too well: too many meetings, too much feedback, unclear responsibility for decisions, and too much time spent getting buy-in from stakeholders.

Research from 2024 showed that 78% of organizational leaders reported struggling with collaboration drag, and when there’s too much of it, businesses are 37% less likely to hit their targets.

Having a great plan and aligning the team around a common goal is essential, but the broader organizational culture still has to provide the right conditions for cross-functional teams to thrive.

Some cross-functional teams are self-organizing, so there’s no clear leadership. This may cause goals to slip away. Long meetings without conclusions, discussing details just to discuss them, and arguments that bring no solutions - nobody wants that. If there's no leader, it's also easy to start listening to the person with the strongest personality. It's natural for every group of people to pick their leader without even thinking about it, but just because someone is a natural-born leader doesn't always mean that's the person with the most knowledge and best organizational skills for this particular project.

Self-organizing teams are natural when working in agile frameworks, but it isn't always as easy as one may think when reading about it. That’s why for many cross-functional teams, it’s good to have a skilled product/project manager that will take responsibility for maintaining momentum and focus.

Why Cross-Functional Teams Work Well

It may be difficult to keep cross-functional teams focused and organized, but with proper governance, clear leadership and solid collaboration frameworks it can be the most efficient way to build a successful digital product. 

Last but not least, it’s also more fun compared to other ways of organizing work. The key is being intentional about avoiding collaboration drag, establishing clear governance structures, and leveraging modern tools to support rather than hinder team effectiveness.