To manage a global business across diverse markets, build a single platform with enough built-in flexibility to meet local regulatory and cultural needs. This avoids the massive overhead of redeveloping features for each market or maintaining a complex, fragmented system.
Instead of 'selling' product management methodologies, influence other leaders by understanding their incentives and goals. Frame product initiatives in terms of how they help other departments succeed. This requires product leaders to be deeply commercial, not just feature-focused.
Just Eat Takeaway observes strong demand for new services like grocery in specific markets first. They develop solutions there, gaining insights and building features that are ready to deploy globally as consumer demand emerges elsewhere, turning regional trends into a strategic advantage.
CPO Jessica Hall admits to changing her 750-person team structure multiple times. She views org design as solving for the current problem, not finding a perfect, permanent solution. This adaptability is key to maintaining effectiveness as the business and its challenges evolve.
A CPO's core function is to enable their team by removing obstacles. Just Eat Takeaway's CPO identifies the need for organizational change when she senses friction, dependencies, or slowing delivery times. Her focus is on creating an environment for success, not dictating product specifics.
A strong product organization offers dual career tracks for managers and senior individual contributors. CPO Jessica Hall also emphasizes the value of 'sideways moves' across different business areas to build breadth of experience, which is crucial for high performance and creative problem-solving.
A key challenge for new C-level leaders is the sudden lack of direct, developmental feedback. You are expected to perform, and feedback becomes binary: did you hit objectives? Senior leaders must become self-reliant, learning to read signals and business results as their main feedback mechanism.
Quantitative data shows trends but can't explain why a restaurant partner isn't using a feature. True understanding for a three-sided marketplace comes from on-the-ground observation and conversation with consumers, partners, and couriers to uncover operational realities data can't capture.
Despite expanding beyond takeaways into retail and pharmaceuticals, Just Eat Takeaway keeps its name. The immense brand recognition is more valuable than a name that literally describes all its services. They educate customers on new offerings gradually, leveraging existing brand trust.