At one of my last product breakfast meetups, one of the speakers, Samia Suys, Head of Product at Climate, shared some lessons on setting up a product department at a startup. This got me thinking—what would I advise others?

Well, I guess it really depends on what the company needs. “Wow, Jurgen, that is the lamest advice you can give.” I know how it sounds, but hear me out. If you come in with a one-solution-fits-all mindset, you’re going to fail. I’ve seen it happen before. I’ve done it before…

So how do I figure out what a company needs first? I start with an assessment—advice I once received from Marty Cagan, along with a displeased look and a comment that I should have read his latest book because the answer is in there. So, I researched and put together an assessment that covers four areas: Culture, Strategy, Processes and People.

Culture

You know the quote “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”? I fully support that. A strong company culture that aligns with the company’s ideals is crucial for growth. As long as there’s a culture of grit, trust, ownership and innovation, the organization will adapt—fast—no matter which direction it pivots.

Strategy

The next element I assess is strategy because no matter how hard everyone works, if there isn’t a clear direction—call it a north star, a vision, a future state, objectives—then all that effort loses its impact.

Imagine a product team that’s highly efficient, resolving every bug on time and delivering every feature within scope. But if that work doesn’t support a strategy, then you’re just keeping yourself busy with random tasks, you’re basically a hamster on a very well-oiled wheel—running like crazy but not getting anywhere. I’ve made this mistake myself, working with my team to deliver feature after feature, only to realize later that none of it moved the needle on company goals.

Processes

The third part—processes—can be the most extensive, but they can also be a major pitfall if applied without context—I’ll explain why in a bit.

Processes need to be separated into two groups: discovery activities and delivery activities. I like to call these habits, loosely based on Teresa Torres’ Continuous Discovery Habits.

For discovery activities, I investigate things like whether the engineering team is involved in customer research and whether we test ideas before going full force into delivery.

For delivery, I check how effortlessly a prototype can be released to customers and what monitoring or metrics are incorporated into daily work.

Now, here’s the pitfall: many new product managers or leaders try to force processes onto teams without understanding whether that’s a real priority or a good fit for that team. One of the most common mistakes is assuming, “If it worked at my last company, it’ll work here too.” Spoiler: it often doesn’t.

I’ve made this mistake too, back when I was a more junior PM. I tried to implement habits that made sense at my previous workplace or that I read about in a book—without truly understanding the company’s core needs.

People

Lastly, I look at people.

After identifying which habits are missing, I analyze whether it’s due to a lack of the right roles or skills, how effective communication is within and outside the team, and whether decisions are backed by data and research—or just gut feeling.

Most commonly, I find there’s no dedicated UX/UI designer or QA engineer. When these roles are missing, I look at who in the team is covering those tasks and how effective they are.

When I need to point out missing roles, I also consider factors like budget. It’s easy to list what’s lacking, but it’s another thing entirely when trade-offs need to be made. And believe me, every team—from Customer Success to Marketing—needs extra hands.

This approach has helped me assess and build product departments more effectively. What do you think? How would you approach it?