Context

Many software product companies create cross-functional development teams that own a product or a defined set of features. These product teams often require a deep and collective understanding of the product domain, a rich context within which to understand the product requirements and to make decisions throughout the development process.

Objective

Little is known about what supports or impedes these teams in collectively achieving this deep understanding. This paper identifies certain organisational conditions that impact teams in this respect.

Method

Using Constructivist Grounded Theory method, we studied 18 teams across seven software companies creating products for a diverse range of markets.

Results

The study found certain organisational and planning process factors play a significant role in whether product development teams have the potential to collectively develop deep domain understanding. These factors also impact individual and development team dynamics.

Conclusions

We identify two essential metaphorical dynamics, broadening the lens and blurring boundaries, that cross-functional product teams employ in order to fully embrace product ownership, visioning, and planning towards achieving this rich context for understanding product requirements. We also conclude that the highly specialised nature of many organisational models and development processes is contraindicated for cross-functional product development teams in achieving this deep collective understanding and we call for a revisiting of conventional organisational and product planning practices for software product development.

中文翻译：

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界限模糊：走向对产品需求的集体移情理解

语境

许多软件产品公司创建了拥有产品或一组定义的功能的跨职能开发团队。这些产品团队通常需要对产品领域有深入和集体的理解，在丰富的上下文中理解产品需求并在整个开发过程中做出决策。

客观的

对于支持或阻碍这些团队共同实现这种深刻理解的因素知之甚少。本文确定了在这方面影响团队的某些组织条件。

方法

使用建构主义扎根理论方法，我们研究了 7 家软件公司的 18 个团队，为不同的市场创造产品。

结果

研究发现，某些组织和规划过程因素在产品开发团队是否有潜力共同发展深入的领域理解方面发挥着重要作用。这些因素也会影响个人和开发团队的动态。

结论

我们确定了两个基本的隐喻动态，扩大镜头和模糊边界，跨职能产品团队采用这些动态，以完全接受产品所有权、愿景和规划，以实现理解产品需求的丰富背景。我们还得出结论，许多组织模型和开发过程的高度专业性对于跨职能产品开发团队实现这种深刻的集体理解是禁忌的，我们呼吁重新审视软件产品开发的传统组织和产品规划实践。