In a recent LinkedIn post, Janna Bastow highlights a common organizational disconnect that hinders effective product development: the misalignment between internal team structures and the way customer feedback naturally arrives. Bastow argues that organizing roadmaps by internal constructs like teams or modules creates a significant barrier, as customer issues rarely conform to these neat boundaries.
The Disconnect Between Internal Silos and Customer Reality
Janna Bastow points out that while organizations often structure their product roadmaps based on how internal teams are set up, customer feedback does not follow suit. This feedback is inherently messy, cross-cutting, and frequently highlights issues at the seams between different departments or product areas. Bastow illustrates this with an anecdote from a product manager who struggled because incoming signals mixed irrelevant information with the specific product area they were responsible for.
“That’s not a Signals problem. That’s an org-design-meets-customer-reality problem.”
According to Bastow, this is not a failure of feedback systems but a fundamental issue stemming from how organizations are designed in relation to their customers’ actual experiences. Customers interact with a product or service as a cohesive workflow, not as a series of internal divisions.
Customer Workflows Ignore Internal Boundaries
Bastow emphasizes that customers do not perceive or interact with a company based on its internal organizational chart. They experience unified workflows, and their pain points often cut across the very ‘swimlanes’ that internal teams operate within. The core of the problem, as Janna Bastow sees it, arises when product managers are held accountable for specific segments of the product, while the insights and feedback received span the entire offering.
“Customers don’t experience your internal boundaries. They experience workflows. And pain happily ignores your swimlanes.”
Strategy as the Solution to Structural Limitations
Janna Bastow suggests that the solution lies more in strategic oversight than in altering the organizational structure itself. When insights do not neatly fit into a single team’s purview, a broader strategic approach is necessary. This involves having individuals or a dedicated function that can maintain a holistic view of the product and customer experience, ultimately deciding which issues warrant collective attention and resources.
The Role of Holistic Oversight
Bastow’s analysis implies that while structural divisions are often necessary for efficient team operation, they can impede the understanding and prioritization of cross-cutting customer issues. The challenge, therefore, is to implement mechanisms that bridge these divides. This requires a strategic layer that can synthesize disparate feedback and guide the organization toward addressing the most impactful problems, regardless of which team is technically ‘responsible’ for them.
“The tension shows up when product managers are accountable for slices, but insights cut across the whole.”
Ultimately, Janna Bastow poses a critical question to her network, prompting reflection on how organizations currently manage feedback that transcends single-team ownership, encouraging a dialogue about best practices in product management and organizational design.
“This is where strategy matters more than structure. Someone has to hold the bigger picture and decide which problems deserve collective focus.”
Bastow’s insights underscore the need for organizations to be agile and adaptive, ensuring that their structures do not inadvertently obscure the very customer needs they aim to serve.
📝 About This Content
This article is based on insights shared by Janna Bastow on LinkedIn.
📅 Originally posted on August 3, 2026 | View original post on LinkedIn →