problem solving teams vs cross functional teams

• Types of Teams [Advantages and Disadvantages]

Teams can be divided into four main groups: project teams, self-managed teams, virtual teams, and operational teams. What type of team you have depends on its purpose, location, and organizational structure. Each type of team comes with its unique set of strengths and weaknesses. In order to fully utilize your team, you first need to understand where each type of team works the best.

At the bottom of this post, you'll find a cheat sheet with an overview of all the types of teams, their main characteristics, pros, and cons!

Project Teams

Project teams are groups of employees who work collectively toward shared goals. This type of team allows you to structure work in a specific, measurable, and time-constrained way. You can assign clear roles, responsibilities, and deadlines. Also, by selecting both experienced and inexperienced workers, you enable them to do informal coaching and mentoring.

There are four main types of project teams:

Functional Teams

These teams are permanent and always include members of the same department with different responsibilities. A manager is responsible for everything, and everyone reports to him. These types of teams are more likely to be found in companies that incorporate traditional project management .

Sometimes, in order to complete a project, several departments need to work together. For example:

• Work on the new product starts with the idea from the marketing department ;
• The idea is passed down to research and development to determine its feasibility;
• After R&D, the design department  is tasked with giving it an appealing look and feel;
• And finally, the product is made by the manufacturing department.

This type of approach is known as ‘baton passing’. It requires a manager that has oversight of the entire project and ensures that there are no obstacles when it comes to transferring work from one team to another.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Functional Teams

Advantages:

• Handles routine work
• Line management has control of projects
• Pools technical and professional expertise

Disadvantages:

• Difficult communication across areas
• Pushing the decision-making process upwards

Cross-functional Teams

Cross-functional teams are made up of members from various departments. These teams tackle specific tasks that require different inputs and expertise. Even though cross-functional teams are becoming increasingly popular  worldwide, a recent study  has proven that a whopping 75% of all cross-functional teams are dysfunctional.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Cross-functional Teams

• Greater speed of task completion
• Can handle a wide array of projects
• Source of unconventional ideas
• Takes a long time to develop cohesion
• Management can prove to be challenging
• Diversity can cause conflict

Matrix Teams

These teams are characterized by a “two-boss system” , where an individual reports to a different manager for various aspects of his work. This type of team is the product of the  Matrix management approach .

Let’s say Jeff, a designer, was given the task of making a design for a new product that marketing provided an idea for and that R&D deemed feasible. By being included in this project, Jeff all of a sudden has two bosses: the first one is a project manager who only cares about the design being done, while the other one is his functional line manager who’ s in charge of Jeff’s training, career development, and routine tasks.

[Find our cheat sheet with all these types of teams on one page at the bottom of this post]

While this approach helps the top management retain control over the project without being included in day-to-day decisions, employees are often faced with challenges of dual command : Jeff now has to report to two managers, who might give him conflict instructions, which causes confusion and frustration.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Matrix Teams

• Acceptable to traditional managers
• Flexibility for assigned personnel
• Top management controls projects, stays out of daily activities
• Dual reporting
• The team leader is usually unable to choose who will be on the project
• Difficult performance appraisal

Contract Teams

Contract teams are outsourced teams that are tied down by a contract and brought in to complete a part of a project. After the project is completed and the contract has ended, the client can cut all ties to the team, no questions asked.

The project manager is the key to success when it comes to contract teams. The project manager has to :

• maintain constant communication between the team and the client,
• compensate for the lack of a team’s physical presence (given that most contract teams work remotely),
• bear full responsibility for the success or failure of a project

Advantages and Disadvantages of Contract Teams

• Easy employment of experts
• A team can use the existing management structure
• No need for client training
• Difficult assessment of project progress for the client
• Difficult to resolve political and organizational issues
• The client is the only judge of success

Self-managed Teams

Typically, members of self-managed teams are employees of the same organization who work together, and even though they have a wide array of objectives, their aim is to reach a common goal. There is no manager nor authority figure, so it is up to members to determine rules and expectations, to solve problems when they arise, and to carry shared responsibility for the results.

One of the first major companies that decided to implement self managed teams was software company Valve in 2012 . Around 300 employees have neither bosses nor a formal division of labor. Instead, they are expected to organize themselves around individual or group projects and are obligated to take care of customer support themselves. The work ethic at Valve relied heavily on individual responsibility.

When setting up a self-managed team, you have to define two parameters:

• Levels of responsibility
• The autonomy that is given to the self-managed team

Research  has shown that employees in self-managed teams feel more useful on the job and find their jobs more challenging, although there is no proof that they are actually more productive.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Self-Managed Teams

• Autonomy improves employee motivation;
• Team members can manage their own time and handle tasks when it suits them;
• You don’t have to pay for an office;
• Shared responsibility instills pride in team accomplishments.
• The lack of hierarchical authority can put personal relationships over good judgment;
• It can lead to conformity that suppresses creativity and critical thinking;
• An added layer of responsibility is time-consuming and requires skills that some people simply don’t have;
• Training time and costs are higher due to a broader scope of duties.

Virtual (Remote) Teams

Virtual teams are made up of people who work in different physical locations and who rely heavily on collaboration tools to get things done together. Virtual teams provide members with a better life-work balance and allow business owners to employ the best experts in the field, regardless of the fact that they live on another continent.

One of the organizations that had the most success with its virtual teams is  Automattic, best known by their company, WordPress . Over 100 employees in 43 different countries use WordPress plugin P2 that enables them to communicate with each other in real-time. Also, when a new employee gets on board he receives a $2.000 stipend to improve his home office, gets the latest Macbook, and an open “time off” policy to use to take free time whenever they need.

It may seem a little farfetched, but this policy is one of the key factors behind Automatic’s success: WordPress is now used by 40% of websites globally .

Remote employee monitoring is so different from monitoring staff in an office environment. It demands huge trust, as well as having efficient communication channels set up. You have to learn to read a person's emotions and level of confidence without being able to see their face – which is hard. — Cam Lee, Rock Agency

Types of virtual teams

According to the  Manager’s guide to virtual teams , virtual teams are characterized by three dimensions:

• Time - WHEN people work. They could work during different hours, on different shifts, or in different time-zones.
• Space - WHERE people work. They could be working right next to each other or hundreds of miles away.
• Culture - HOW and WHOM people work for. ‘Culture’ dimension includes factors such as gender, race, language, profession, education, nationality, as well as political, social, religious, and economic factors.

Operational teams

Operational teams  support other types of teams. They are formed to make sure that all back-office processes go smoothly.

For example, the Human Resource department doesn’t handle any projects but it has to perform candidate screening, interviewing, and recruiting. If one of the  key players decides to leave , HR has to find a substitute so the respective team can carry on its work.

Also, operational teams can have their own projects and function like a project team because they have well-defined roles and responsibilities. For instance, if the accounting department received a task to make an annual financial report by a certain date, they will most likely devise a timeline, delegate tasks, and keep track of deadlines just like any other project team.

What type of team is right for you?

When choosing a type of team to perform a certain task, ask yourself these questions:

• What’s the team’s purpose exactly?
• How many people are required, and what will their roles be?
• Are selected members capable of self-management, or they require a strong leader?
• Is it necessary for them to be located in a single place?
• Is their engagement temporary or permanent?

If you have a project that requires input from marketing, design as well as the Customer Support department, choose a cross-functional team.

"An effective team would demonstrate: The willingness to teach one another, Clear communication, High morale to maintain inspiration, Fill in gaps for one another (skill, time, circumstance), Strong as an individual, unstoppable as a group." — Kalila Lang,  DigiSomni

If, on the other hand, you choose to outsource the design, and the agency you have chosen uses a designer that works remotely, the only logical way to go is opting for a mixture of virtual and contract teams.

In practice, you will rarely find a team that can be defined as solely functional or solely virtual: most teams in modern business represent a hybrid of some, if not all of the team types.

Download our cheat sheet , print it out for an overview of the most common types of teams!

Types of Teams Cheat Sheet

All Newsletter subscribers can download this (and other) ActiveCollab Project Management Guides.

*Enter your email address and subscribe to our newsletter to get your hands on this, as well as many other free project management guides.

Sorry, we could not subscribe you at this moment. please double check your email address. If issue still persist, please let us know by sending an email to [email protected]

Make Real Work Happen!

Start your trial today, free for 14 days! Onboard your team, plan, collaborate, organize your work, and get paid.

By signing up you are agreeing to the ActiveCollab Terms of Service & Privacy Policy .

Great, just a few seconds and you're in.

We detected that you already have an ActiveCollab account

You can log in to existing account or you may start a new one

Great, your account has been created!

You will be redirected to your new account in a couple of seconds.

Sorry, we could not create an account for you at this moment.

Please double check your email address. If the issue still persists, please let us know by sending an email to [email protected]

Other posts in the series on The Big Book of Team Culture

• Real Life Examples of Successful Teamwork [9 Cases]
• Tips To Take Better Meeting Notes
• How To Be a Good Team Leader
• Belbin Team Roles: Theory and Practice
• How To Deal With a Toxic Coworker
• Organizational Culture and Its Impact on Team Performance
• What Is Teamwork Actually?
• High Performing Teams: What Are They and How Do I Build One?
• Characteristics of a Productive Team
• All Leadership Theories in Under 15 Minutes
• How to Create Organizational Culture
• Group vs Team [Differences, Comparison, Transformation]

Sign up for ActiveCollab newsletter!

Choose your favorite topics and we'll send our stories from the tech front lines straight to your inbox.

Unsubscribe at any time * Privacy Policy

Just a second

Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

Oops, something went wrong! Please try again later.

Start your free trial

Enter your email to get 14 days of ActiveCollab absolutely free, without any limitations.

Mark as disposable account.

ActiveCollab Is Using Cookies

By accepting all cookies you are giving us permission to use our tracking technologies to personalize your content and provide you the best possible experience on our website. Essential cookies are always on as we need them to make sure our website is working properly.

Read more about our cookie policy.

• Reviews / Why join our community?
• For companies
• Frequently asked questions

Cross-Functional Teams

What are cross-functional teams.

A cross-functional team includes members with different skills, expertise, and levels working towards a common goal. The team's diverse backgrounds contribute to a comprehensive understanding of problems, which enhances the likelihood of reaching optimal solutions.

Laura Klein, author of Build Better Products and UX for Lean Startups, explains how cross-functional teams work and how they differ from functional teams in this video:

• Transcript loading…

How Do Cross-Functional Teams Differ from Traditional Team Structures?

Traditional team structures are usually functional, where team members share similar skills and expertise and perform similar functions. For example, a company might have a design team, an engineering team, a customer service team, etc.

A functional team has a manager who has a similar background and understands the team members’ roles and responsibilities.

Functional teams have a clear leadership structure. In large functional organizations, managers might assign team members to different projects, depending on their expertise and availability. Even if assigned to different projects, team members report to the departmental manager. This approach, however, can lead to a siloed organization where teams don’t interact with each other.

Cross-functional teams seek to break these silos and foster greater collaboration between teams. When people across different departments come together, the group gains multiple perspectives.

© Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-SA 4.0

Functional and cross-functional teams have advantages and drawbacks that suit different organizations and projects. Here is a comparison between the two types of teams.

Advantages of Cross-Functional Teams in Design

In this video, Frank Spillers, CEO of Experience Dynamics, dives into the importance of co-creation, especially in service design. He highlights how collaboration among cross-functional teams can drive innovation and success.

Diverse expertise: Cross-functional teams bring together members with a wide range of skills and knowledge from different functional areas of the organization. This diversity of expertise enables the team to tackle complex problems and challenges that require a multidisciplinary approach.

Beginner’s mindset: Each team member has expertise in their domain, which might lead to blind spots and assumptions. When people from different backgrounds come together, they offer a fresh perspective and approach each other’s domains from a beginner’s point of view, thus challenging beliefs and assumptions.

Fewer handoffs: In traditional teams, resources (such as a designer or researcher) might work on a project temporarily and then move to the next one. To help the next designer, the outgoing team member creates a handover, usually a document. These handovers sometimes can cause misunderstandings and confusion. A cross-functional team comes together for a specific project, which reduces the need for handoffs and potential confusion.

Innovation and creativity: The design thinking methodology advocates for cross-functional teams. The combination of diverse perspectives fosters innovation and creativity. Team members can brainstorm ideas, challenge conventional thinking, and develop novel solutions that might not be possible in teams with a more limited focus. 

Aligned with business goals: Unlike siloed departments, where teams might lose sight of the larger picture or move in different directions, cross-functional teams share a common vision.

Comprehensive problem-solving: Cross-functional teams can consider all aspects of a problem, from technical and operational to marketing and customer-related concerns. This comprehensive approach often leads to more effective solutions.

User-centric focus: When people from different teams come together, everyone can see how each department influences the customer journey and experience. This holistic approach leads to better products, services, and user experience.

Faster decision-making: Cross-functional teams can make decisions faster than traditional hierarchical structures. With all relevant expertise in one unit, there’s no need to wait for approvals or information from different departments. This is particularly relevant for agile teams.

Flexibility and adaptability: Functional teams will likely have their priorities and may not be available at the same time for urgent scenarios. On the other hand, cross-functional teams don’t depend on multiple departments—they have all the required expertise within the team. Hence, they can adapt quickly to changing circumstances or market conditions. They can pivot their strategies and tactics more easily than siloed teams.

Enhanced learning and development: Team members from different backgrounds can learn from each other, which leads to professional growth, skill development, and a broader understanding of the organization.

Increased accountability: Team members are often more accountable for their contributions in cross-functional teams because their work is visible to the entire organization. This accountability can lead to higher-quality outcomes.

Higher employee engagement: Working in cross-functional teams can enhance job satisfaction and engagement, as employees have a sense of ownership and impact on the outcomes of their collaborative efforts.

Challenges of Cross-Functional Teams

While cross-functional teams offer many advantages, they are not without their disadvantages. Organizations need to be aware of these potential drawbacks and address them effectively to ensure the success of such teams. Here are some disadvantages of cross-functional teams:

Conflict and tension: Diverse perspectives, expertise, opinions, goals and working styles can sometimes lead to conflicts and tension within the team.

Coordination and communication challenges: Coordinating activities and aligning goals across different functions can be complex. Effective communication can be difficult in cross-functional teams, especially if team members come from different backgrounds or have varying levels of technical expertise. Project managers may need more time and effort to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Ownership issues: Team members might need help understanding who is responsible for what within a cross-functional team. Without clear roles and responsibilities, tasks may fall through the cracks, and accountability can be unclear.

Resource allocation: The management of resources across functions can take time and effort. Cross-functional team members often belong to individual department heads as well. Department managers might want to assign other tasks. Team members might struggle to prioritize work, and managers might clash over resource allocation.

Resistance to change: Employees from different functional areas might feel uncomfortable leaving traditional working styles. This resistance can hinder the team’s progress and success.

Lack of domain expertise: Cross-functional teams may lack deep domain expertise in a specific area, making it difficult to effectively address highly specialized or technical issues.

Time-consuming meetings: Collaboration and consensus-building can require frequent meetings and discussions, which may consume a significant amount of team members’ time and potentially lead to “meeting fatigue.”

Decision-making delays: Achieving consensus among diverse team members may take longer than in more specialized teams and lead to delays.

Groupthink: While diversity of thought is valuable, it can also lead to groupthink. In an effort to reach consensus, team members may conform to the dominant viewpoint and suppress other opinions.

Difficulty in team formation: Project managers can struggle to identify the right mix of skills and personalities to build a high-performing cross-functional team.

Training and development needs: Team members may require additional training or development to bridge gaps in knowledge or skills, which can add to the overall cost.

Inconsistent performance: Cross-functional teams may find it difficult to perform consistently. Managers may also struggle to assess individual performance.

Many of these challenges stem from the team members’ diverse backgrounds. Cross-functional teams can invest in orientation programs, create clear communication channels and effective team management to ease many of these issues. If an organization promotes a culture of collaboration, then such challenges will ease out with every successive project.

How to Implement Cross-Functional Teams Effectively

Don Norman, the pioneer of UX design, emphasizes the need for cross-functional collaboration and urges designers to learn how to work with people from different disciplines. 

A single person or department isn’t enough to solve complex problems. Here’s how you can implement cross-functional teams effectively.

Identify the right projects or initiatives: Choose projects or initiatives that benefit from a cross-functional approach. Not every project needs a cross-functional team. Ensure that the benefits of cross-functional teams outweigh the costs. Cross-functional teams are more suitable for complex challenges, strategic initiatives, or tasks that require diverse expertise.

Define objectives and goals: Clearly articulate the objectives and goals you want to achieve through cross-functional teams. What specific problems or opportunities will these teams address? What are the expected outcomes? Define key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to measure the success of cross-functional teams. These should align with the project’s goals and objectives.

Select the right team members: Identify individuals from different functional areas with the relevant project skills and knowledge. Consider a mix of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives to ensure diversity within the team.

Establish team roles and responsibilities: Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each team member. Ensure everyone understands their contribution to the project’s success and how their role fits within the team.

Provide training and support: Offer training or resources to team members to help bridge any knowledge or skill gaps. Clearly outline the benefits of the approach and provide cross-training sessions, workshops, or relevant tools and materials to ensure everyone is onboard.

Designate a project manager: Appoint a project manager to guide the team’s activities, ensure that workshops have healthy discussions and help resolve conflicts or obstacles.

Promote a collaborative culture: Foster a culture of collaboration and open communication within the organization. Encourage employees to share ideas, provide feedback, and work together across departments.

Empower the team: Give the cross-functional team the autonomy to make decisions and take ownership of their work. Avoid micromanaging, but provide support and resources when necessary.

Celebrate successes and learn from failures: Acknowledge and celebrate the team’s achievements and milestones. Encourage a culture where the team sees failures as learning opportunities and applies lessons to future projects.

Evaluate and iterate: At the end of the project, conduct a thorough evaluation to assess what worked well and how the team can improve. Share best practices and lessons learned across teams and use these insights to refine future efforts.

When Not to Implement Cross-Functional Teams

Cross-functional teams are best suited to address complex problems or projects that benefit from diverse expertise and perspectives, for example, new product development and sustainability initiatives.

While cross-functional teams can be highly effective, there are certain types of problems for which a traditional team approach might work best. 

Here are some example scenarios:

Routine or Simple Tasks: Individual specialists or small, specialized teams can often handle such tasks more efficiently than cross-functional teams.

Urgent or Time-Sensitive Issues: Cross-functional teams may take time to form, and their collaborative nature can slow down decision-making. A hierarchical or specialized team approach may be more appropriate when quick decisions and immediate action are necessary.

Confidential or Sensitive Matters: Problems or projects that involve highly confidential or sensitive information may not suit cross-functional teams; sharing sensitive data across multiple functions can increase security risks.

Small-Scale Projects: For small-scale projects or initiatives, assembling a cross-functional team may be resource-intensive and unnecessary. A single department or a small group of specialists may be more suitable.

Well-Defined and Narrowly Focused Tasks: If a problem or project has a well-defined scope and requires a narrow focus, a specialized team or individual experts within a single department may be more efficient and cost-effective.

Low-Complexity Issues: Cross-functional teams are best suited for complex, multifaceted challenges. Problems with straightforward solutions may not require the diversity of expertise and perspectives that cross-functional teams offer.

Highly Technical or Specialized Problems: Cross-functional teams may not be efficient to solve problems that require deep technical or specialized knowledge in a single domain. Rely on subject-matter experts within that specific field instead.

Budget Constraints: In cases of tight budgets, other approaches may be more cost-effective.

Learn More about Cross-Functional Teams

The design thinking and agile methodologies emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. To learn more about these methodologies, sign up for the following courses:

Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide

Agile Methods for UX Design  

See this article from Asana for tips on Building a cross-functional team . 

Here’s a comprehensive piece on the Composition, Benefits, and Good Practices of Cross-Functional Teams .

To see how large companies like Amazon and Spotify use cross-functional teams, see What Are Cross-Functional Teams and How to Build One?

For more examples of cross-functional teams in action, see Cross-Functional Collaboration Overview + Examples .

Questions about Cross-Functional Teams

In design teams, a cross-functional team consists of individuals from various disciplines like design, development, marketing, and management, all collaborating on a project. This team structure integrates diverse perspectives and skills.

Key benefits of cross-functional teams include enhanced innovation, a more holistic understanding of projects, and faster problem-solving.

Cross-functional teams are the backbone of Google’s Design Sprint framework , which calls for a team with representatives from all relevant organizational functions and levels. Here is a short overview of the design sprint.

Cross-functional teams in UI/UX and product design offer a wide range of expertise in one place. UX designers, developers, product managers and marketers work together and apply their perspectives to ensure products meet user needs and market demands. Such teams facilitate faster, more efficient decision-making and bring innovative, user-centric solutions.

The design thinking methodology recommends working in cross-functional teams to balance desirability, feasibility and viability .

A cross-functional design team’s composition depends on the type of project and its unique requirements. Generally, one can expect a cross-functional team to have a project manager who oversees the project and ensures everyone is on the same page. The team may include business stakeholders, product managers, designers, engineers, marketing personnel and other specialists suited to the project. For example, a banking-related project might involve legal or finance experts.

Cross-functional teams include people from different departments with different types and expertise levels. This increases the chances of misunderstanding since people might use different terms for the same concept. Onboarding and training programs and clear documentation can help minimize miscommunication.

Visual mapping tools such as customer journey maps and stakeholder maps help align the entire team. With time, as team members interact and learn more about each other’s roles and responsibilities, the team will overcome initial communication challenges and reap the benefits of cross-functional collaboration.

The biggest challenge cross-functional teams face stems from the diversity of team members. With a range of expertise, team members might not understand who is responsible for what. Each member may have a different approach towards work and follow different processes, which might lead to conflicts and slower decision-making.

A good project manager can help ease these tensions. The project manager facilitates collaboration and ensures everyone understands the goals of the project, their roles, and how the team should function. Read the article, Three Steps to Facilitate Design Thinking in Your Team for a more detailed guideline.

Cross-functional teams are highly effective for strategic and complex projects. One of the best ways to collaborate with stakeholders and clients is to involve them in team meetings and workshops to keep them in the loop. With all relevant functional representatives in the room, such teams can run their findings, insights and ideas past clients, get timely feedback, and implement any changes or change course if needed. Documentation, prototype demonstrations, and regular status updates are other ways to collaborate with stakeholders.

Watch leadership coach Todd Zaki Warfel’s Master Class Webinar on How to Win Clients, Pitches & Approval: Present Your Designs Effectively to understand the mindset of stakeholders and how to communicate with them successfully.

Since cross-functional design teams involve people from different departments, the team must choose tools carefully. Specialized tools that need expertise will exclude several team members. The most common tools in such teams aim to optimize workflow and collaboration.

Project management tools such as Asana or Trello.

Remote communication tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom.

Collaboration tools such as whiteboards (and virtual versions, such as Miro or Mural).

Document management and storage solutions such as Dropbox or Google Drive.

Design and prototyping tools such as Figma, Adobe XD or Sketch.

Cross-functional teams foster creativity by encouraging a beginner’s mindset. When people from diverse backgrounds come together, they challenge assumptions and biases. They ask questions that people who are experts in the field may overlook. Moreover, such teams offer a holistic view of the problems and solutions, so ideas will likely be desirable, feasible and viable from the beginning.

Learn more about design thinking in IxDF’s comprehensive course, Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide .

Nguyen, M., & Mougenot, C. (2022). A systematic review of empirical studies on multidisciplinary design collaboration: Findings, methods, and challenges . Design Studies , 81 , 101120. This study systematically reviews empirical studies on multidisciplinary design collaboration, including cross-functional teams.

Sethi, R., Smith, D. C., & Park, C. W. (2001). Cross-Functional Product Development Teams, Creativity, and the Innovativeness of New Consumer Products . Journal of Marketing Research , 38(1), 73-85. This study looks at 141 cross-functional teams and their impact on the creativity and innovativeness of new consumer products.

McDonough, E. F. (2000). Investigation of Factors Contributing to the Success of Cross-Functional Teams . Journal of Product Innovation Management , 17 (3), 221-235. In this article, the author analyzes the responses of 112 new product development professionals to determine which factors lead to project success.

Finerty, S. Z. (2019). Cross Functional Influence: Getting Things Done Across the Organization . Two Harbors Press. This book gives you a practical model to navigate complex organizational landscapes and offers practical advice for successful cross-functional collaboration.

Klein, L. (2019). Build Better Products: A Modern Approach to Building Successful User-Centered Products . Rosenfeld Media. This book offers practical advice on how to develop products and features that improve a business’s bottom line and dramatically improve customer experience. It includes how to build a better team to achieve this success.

Literature on Cross-Functional Teams

Here’s the entire UX literature on Cross-Functional Teams by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:

Learn more about Cross-Functional Teams

Take a deep dive into Cross-Functional Teams with our course Agile Methods for UX Design .

Agile, in one form or another, has taken over the software development world and is poised to move into almost every other industry. The problem is that a lot of teams and organizations that call themselves “agile” don’t seem to have much in common with each other. This can be extremely confusing to a new team member, especially if you’ve previously worked on an “agile” team that had an entirely different definition of “agility”!

Since the release of the Agile Manifesto in 2001, agile methodologies have become almost unrecognizable in many organizations, even as they have become wildly popular. 

To understand the real-world challenges and best practices to work under the constraints of agile teams, we spoke with hundreds of professionals with experience working in agile environments. This research led us to create Agile Methods for UX Design .

In this course, we aim to show you what true agility is and how closely agile methodologies can map to design. You will learn both the theory and the real-world implementation of agile, its different flavors, and how you can work with different versions of agile teams.

You will learn about the key principles of agile, examples of teams that perform all the agile “rituals” but aren’t actually agile, and examples of teams that skip the rituals but actually embody the spirit.

You’ll learn about agile-specific techniques for research and design, such as designing smaller things, practicing continuous discovery, refactoring designs, and iterating.

You will also walk away with practical advice for working better with your team and improving processes at your company so that you can get some of the benefits of real agility.

This course is aimed at people who already know how to design or research (or who want to work with designers and researchers) but who want to learn how to operate better within a specific environment. There are lots of tools designers use within an agile environment that are no different from tools they’d use anywhere else, and we won’t be covering how to use those tools generally, but we will talk about how agile deliverables can differ from those you’d find in a more traditional UX team. 

Your course instructor is product management and user experience design expert, Laura Klein. Laura is the author of Build Better Products and UX for Lean Startups and the co-host of the podcast What is Wrong with UX?

With over 20 years of experience in tech, Laura specializes in helping companies innovate responsibly and improve their product development process, and she especially enjoys working with lean startups and agile development teams.

In this course, you will also hear from industry experts Teresa Torres (Product Discovery Coach at Product Talk), Janna Bastow (CEO and Co-founder of ProdPad) and Adam Thomas (product management strategist and consultant).

All open-source articles on Cross-Functional Teams

Team research.

• 2 years ago

Open Access—Link to us!

We believe in Open Access and the  democratization of knowledge . Unfortunately, world-class educational materials such as this page are normally hidden behind paywalls or in expensive textbooks.

If you want this to change , cite this page , link to us, or join us to help us democratize design knowledge !

Privacy Settings

Our digital services use necessary tracking technologies, including third-party cookies, for security, functionality, and to uphold user rights. Optional cookies offer enhanced features, and analytics.

Experience the full potential of our site that remembers your preferences and supports secure sign-in.

Governs the storage of data necessary for maintaining website security, user authentication, and fraud prevention mechanisms.

Enhanced Functionality

Saves your settings and preferences, like your location, for a more personalized experience.

Referral Program

We use cookies to enable our referral program, giving you and your friends discounts.

Error Reporting

We share user ID with Bugsnag and NewRelic to help us track errors and fix issues.

Optimize your experience by allowing us to monitor site usage. You’ll enjoy a smoother, more personalized journey without compromising your privacy.

Analytics Storage

Collects anonymous data on how you navigate and interact, helping us make informed improvements.

Differentiates real visitors from automated bots, ensuring accurate usage data and improving your website experience.

Lets us tailor your digital ads to match your interests, making them more relevant and useful to you.

Advertising Storage

Stores information for better-targeted advertising, enhancing your online ad experience.

Personalization Storage

Permits storing data to personalize content and ads across Google services based on user behavior, enhancing overall user experience.

Advertising Personalization

Allows for content and ad personalization across Google services based on user behavior. This consent enhances user experiences.

Enables personalizing ads based on user data and interactions, allowing for more relevant advertising experiences across Google services.

Receive more relevant advertisements by sharing your interests and behavior with our trusted advertising partners.

Enables better ad targeting and measurement on Meta platforms, making ads you see more relevant.

Allows for improved ad effectiveness and measurement through Meta’s Conversions API, ensuring privacy-compliant data sharing.

LinkedIn Insights

Tracks conversions, retargeting, and web analytics for LinkedIn ad campaigns, enhancing ad relevance and performance.

LinkedIn CAPI

Enhances LinkedIn advertising through server-side event tracking, offering more accurate measurement and personalization.

Google Ads Tag

Tracks ad performance and user engagement, helping deliver ads that are most useful to you.

Share the knowledge!

Share this content on:

or copy link

Cite according to academic standards

Simply copy and paste the text below into your bibliographic reference list, onto your blog, or anywhere else. You can also just hyperlink to this page.

New to UX Design? We’re Giving You a Free ebook!

Download our free ebook The Basics of User Experience Design to learn about core concepts of UX design.

In 9 chapters, we’ll cover: conducting user interviews, design thinking, interaction design, mobile UX design, usability, UX research, and many more!