Aligning Teams
to Drive Growth

The mobile app was struggling: low buyer retention, no structured onboarding, and a confusing seller flow. The core challenge was lack of alignment. Different teams had competing priorities and different understandings of strategy, making it difficult to move forward cohesively.

I was brought in as the first PM and Design Lead hire to improve the product and establish a structured process and collaborative culture where teams could work together effectively.

My job was to help the company achieve product-market fit and drive growth. But first, I had to establish a process that brought everyone together. That meant defining OKRs together, creating regular touchpoints across teams, and making sure everyone understood the strategy and felt ownership of the results.

I also needed to make sure that sales, marketing, and customer support had a voice in design decisions. They were closest to the customer — they needed to be part of shaping the product.

I started by working with the leadership team to establish our OKRs together. This wasn't top-down — it was collaborative. Everyone had input on what we were trying to achieve and why.

Cross-Team Rhythm

Then I created a rhythm of regular meetings with sales, marketing, and customer support. We reviewed metrics together, cross-referenced our OKRs, and talked about what we were hearing from customers. They told me what problems they were seeing. I shared design ideas early and asked for their input. This wasn't just information sharing — it was true collaboration.

Card Sorting & Brainstorming

To deepen that collaboration, I ran card sorting exercises with members across disciplines. We experimented together with information architecture and categories for the new website. I also organized brainstorm sessions where different teams could come together to discuss the issues they were observing with the app. These sessions became a rich source of data — sales was seeing one set of problems, support was seeing another, and engineers had their own perspective. Bringing everyone together meant we caught things no single team would have seen alone.

Fixing the Order Request Experience

One project that stood out was fixing the order request experience. We noticed through metrics and user feedback that people were dropping off during checkout — it was hurting conversions. I led the research and analysis, but I involved the entire team. Sales told me what questions they were getting from customers. Support shared what was confusing people. Engineering helped me understand what was possible to build. I used the RICE framework to prioritize opportunities, created prototypes, tested them with real users, and iterated based on feedback.

Throughout the process, I kept bringing people back together. Everyone knew why we were making each choice. Everyone felt heard. Everyone was invested in the outcome.

Teams moved faster by eliminating wasted energy. Communication clarified, workflows streamlined, and decisions accelerated with shared information and aligned priorities.

Psychological safety enabled teams to collaborate and share ideas. Morale strengthened as people felt heard and saw their contributions reflected in the work. When everyone understands the direction and feels invested, they execute with momentum.

The metrics reflected the impact of alignment. Order request conversions increased 75%, buyer retention rose 40%, sign-ups doubled, and sales grew 130% year-over-year.