2 Analogies In Football Field That Worth Learning

Heads up - football analogy coming your way.

Imagine you recruit Jose Mourinho to manage your football team.

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You tell him 2 things:

1- All the players on the squad are strikers. Why? Because, hey, we need to score goals.

2- When trying for a goal, you can only adopt the 2 plays that are approved by us. The team can't come up with something on their own.

Example of a play: the team will move the ball to the right flank, make a deep run & cross it in for a header. Every time.

What do you think Jose's reaction will be?

Yes. You'll get a death stare from him.

He may have some choice words for you too.

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The reasons are obvious:

1- The team can't function just on strikers. You need midfielders, defenders & goalies.

2- The team needs the liberty to make a play based on merit & opportunity. Why turn in a corner when you can make a through pass to a striker with a clear passage to goal?

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Similarly,

1- Empowered product teams don't just comprise of Product Managers/Owners. Developers, designers, BAs & QAs all play an important part.

2- You can't force feed features to empowered teams. Let them decide the best way to achieve the outcome based on how opportunities present themselves.

Lesson: Don't piss off Jose.