From banquet to bistro: How the product model is transforming the business of technology

Instead of organizing by skillset—developers here, testers there—product teams are cross-functional by design. They bring together the full lifecycle of expertise required to support a capability like configure-price-quote (CPQ), digital commerce, or fulfillment. They don’t just build software; they own strategy, delivery, iteration, and ultimately, outcomes.

And that last word is key: outcomes. In a project model, teams are measured by what they deliver—how many story points they burn down, how fast they release features. In a product model, the question is different: Did we move the needle on a meaningful business metric?

For a commerce team, that might mean increasing pipeline velocity or boosting conversion rates. For an internal team, success might be defined by time savings, productivity improvements, or reductions in operational risk. Regardless of the domain, the emphasis is the same: value over volume.