Program Report

Cross-Functional Teams

By Anne Louiselle

	Panelists RJ LeMaster, John Garison, Bill Gribbons, and Helen Chen
	Photo by Anne Louiselle

Despite a snowstorm, more than 42 people attended the March 20 meeting of the Boston and Northern New England Chapters of the Society for Technical Communication on cross-functional teams. The meeting, which was hosted by Jim Lidington, featured panelists Helen Chen, John Garison, RJ LeMaster, and Bill Gribbons, who shared their experiences and recommendations. A major theme was that many successful companies have used cross-functional teams.

Bill Gribbons

Bill Gribbons first worked on a cross-functional team in 1988 while consulting at Ciba-Corning. The company assembled a cross-functional team before starting to design the product, bringing together people from the documentation, training, development, hardware and software, usability, and marketing groups. Over the next 18 months, the team combined all the input, completed multiple rounds of testing, and developed one of the finest products in the marketplace.

The use of cross-functional teams was a fairly new idea in 1988. Since that time, some of the best products have resulted from combining different ways of thinking about the product, the user, and the marketplace. As Gribbons explained, "Everyone has a different perspective and a unique contribution to make. Bring these ideas together and combine them in a way that works."

Marylou Johnson and Jennifer McGinn
Photo by Anne Louiselle

Gribbons provided some specific suggestions for a successful experience. He suggested locating a strong advocate. "Finding a powerful advocate in the organization who will champion the cause of cross-functional teams—particularly when faced with development, release, or budgetary pressures—is very important," he said. "Don't be overly ambitious in your early efforts to build the cross-functional team. Start by getting the "team" members to simply meet together and convey each subgroup's contributions to the project. Then build on the small successes you have and leverage the trust and sense of collaboration fostered by these early experiences."

Gribbons is the founder of the Design and Usability Testing Center at Bentley College. The Design and Usability Center provides testing services for companies from all over the country. When the client initially decides to work with the center, Gribbons advises them to involve a cross-functional team in the testing process. Gribbons has discovered that when this approach is used early in the process, certain aspects of the interface may be changed more easily, making the user’s experience more effective.

John Garison

John Garison explained how the cross-functional team approach was first implemented at Integrated Development Enterprise (IDe). IDe’s product is used to manage products in development across an enterprise.

John describes IDe as a typical software development organization. "There were four programmers. I was the tech writer," he said. "In addition, there were two QA people. The organization got bigger and grew faster in some areas over others. We realized that there was a big need for people to work on the design of the product before we actually started implementing it. I raised my hand, and said, ‘We can do that, and I can help.’ We did it. The first implementation was a success, and we carried on from there."

The cross-functional approach at IDe consists of three teams:

• The Core Team, which consists of Marketing Support, Sales Development, and other major parts, is responsible for choosing the direction and evaluating whether the team is making the right decisions.
• The Feature Team, which consists of Technical Writing, Development, and QA people, is responsible for refining the rough design.
• The Product Acceptance Committee consists of the Chairman of the Board, the CEO, the CTO, the VP of Support, and a member of IDe’s Board of Directors who is a Harvard Business School professor.

Helen Chen

	Mary Oliver Flebotte
	Photo by Anne Louiselle

Helen Chen has served as both program manager and a project manager in various high-tech companies in the New England area. She has built and been a member of different cross-functional teams.

Chen feels that cross-functional teams can be a great career investment; team members learn so much in the process and can contribute more to their current and future jobs.

For cross-functional teams to function well, Chen advised that communication is key. "You must be prepared for honest discussion throughout the product life cycle, because even if you have the best process, there are going to be those rough moments," she said. "You need to have a culture in place where you can talk to each other and discuss problems. Continue communicating even after the project is over. Evaluate whether you accomplished your goal and discuss how you can improve upon the process the next time around."

RJ LeMaster

RJ LeMaster, the software development manager at IDe, recommends giving cross-functional teams a try. "You’ll be surprised at how efficiently they work," LeMaster said. "We are constantly discussing issues. We have a high degree of satisfaction. We are able to remove obstacles and respond more quickly to customer issues."

When asked about any issues with cross-functional teams, he said, "As efficient as cross-functional teams are, the biggest problem is refining and addressing the process. We have four releases per year. We are constantly improving the process."

"Cross-functional teams work," LeMaster said. "We have found that we can improve usability, refine our design process, and create a better experience."

View the Cross-Functional Teams photo gallery.

Anne Louiselle can be reached at alouiselle@attbi.com.