The Very Reason Those Cross-Functional Projects Never Got Shipped

How To Avoid It In Big Tech Companies

Leading a cross-functional project in a big tech company is challenging. You are responsible for planning well, delegating well, executing well, communicating well, and shipping in a timely manner. Any miss in those things could cause extra efforts to fix it. However, one thing that could be fatal to a project if it goes wrong is getting buy-in.

Here is a true story at one of the FAANG companies -

The CEO of this conglomerate had an idea and told Team A to explore a new product X. Team A of the Org A built prototypes and thought they could really build a product around it. Team A’s product relied on Team B’s platform. Team B belonged to a different organization chart — Org B. Team A reached out to the product manager and the engineer manager of Team B to collaborate. Team B agreed, and Team A started to hire resources for this project.

When Team A was about to finish the implementation, the VP of Org B suddenly came into the picture and asked, “Why are you doing this? This is not our priority.” Team B immediately stopped their work.

Team A was shocked and disappointed. They also realized that CEO never had approved this project in any form of writing. Team A built a very…