Over recent years, thought leaders like Marty Cagan of the Silicon Valley Product Group have strongly advocated for a shift from project mode to product mode. In Transformed and other writings, Cagan promotes stable product teams focused on continuous value delivery—what has become a widely embraced model.

Yet many organizations adopting this thinking do so without fully appreciating its nuances. They often adopt “product mode” as a silver bullet, overlooking that models like Spotify’s are highly context-specific and continuously evolving to fit their unique culture and challenges.

Over the last 18-months, I’ve been working with a diverse range of clients exploring their future of work and operating models. Many remain stuck in traditional project mode, struggling to keep pace with more adaptive competitors. Conversely, some organizations have swung to the other extreme—dropping nearly all project delivery capabilities in favor of product mode—only to find themselves grappling with coordination challenges and missed deadlines. Others are navigating the complex middle ground, seeking guidance to blend project and product approaches in a way that fits their unique circumstances, enabling more responsive and sustainable agility.

Not Spotify, Not One-Size-Fits-All

The “Spotify model” is undeniably inspiring, showcasing a path to agile ways of working that empower teams and accelerate delivery. However, it is not a universal blueprint. It represents a snapshot of a constantly evolving ecosystem uniquely tailored to Spotify’s culture, scale, and market challenges. Even Spotify openly admits that their model has continuously evolved as the needs of and demands on the organization changed.

Blindly replicating the Spotify model risks overlooking essential factors that vary widely between organizations—from culture and leadership style to regulatory demands and legacy systems. Much like Ford’s experience when visiting Toyota’s plants to replicate the Toyota Production System (TPS), many expected to mirror Toyota’s success simply by copying their practices, only to find the approach deeply embedded in Toyota’s unique context and continuous adaptation.

This teaches us that effective agility models must be shaped by a deep understanding of organizational context and continuously refined to fit it—not lifted wholesale from another company’s playbook.

Product vs. Project: Why It’s Not One or the Other

When it comes to product and project modes, the right answer may well be both, applied judiciously depending on context:

• Product Mode suits ongoing initiatives where teams can own product outcomes, iterate continuously, and evolve in response to customer needs.
• Project Mode remains necessary for temporary, time-boxed efforts like regulatory compliance, large-scale transformation launches, or highly interdependent multi-team deliverables.

Many organizations have struggled after downsizing project delivery specialists too quickly, leading to challenges managing dependencies, milestones, and governance critical to certain initiatives.

A Multi-Level Operating Model

Sustainable organizational agility requires a multi-level operating model that embraces this complexity:

• Leveraging product teams for continuous stream-aligned delivery
• Using project structures when defined scopes, deadlines, and cross-team coordination dictate
• Building hybrid roles and enabling functions that bridge gaps between modes

Capability and Leadership Are the Key

Navigating this expanded landscape demands leadership attuned to multiple delivery realities and a deliberate capability-building strategy:

• Retain and grow project delivery expertise alongside product coaching and product management
• Establish cross-modal collaboration rhythms, tooling, and governance that foster trust and autonomy
• Adapt leadership focus to optimize for outcomes, not rigid adherence to a singular model

Aligning to Outcomes, Not Operating Models

Ultimately, organizational agility is not an ideological choice between projects or products—it’s mastery of both within the system boundaries to deliver customer value, innovation, and resilience efficiently.

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Over to You

As you consider your organization’s agility journey, ask yourself: Are you relying too heavily on one operating model without fully appreciating your unique context? Could embracing a multi-level approach—balancing product and project modes—unlock new opportunities for adaptability and value delivery?

I invite you to reflect on how you’re currently structuring teams and initiatives. Where might you benefit from greater flexibility or capability development to navigate complex demands more effectively?

Share your experiences and questions in the comments.

Let’s explore together how thoughtful operating models can fuel true organizational agility in today’s complex environment.