Feature teams are a symptom of a broken operating model

Cagan distinguishes between feature teams, which exist to implement a predetermined backlog, and empowered product teams, which exist to solve a business problem however they see fit. Feature teams optimize for output, meaning did we ship what was asked, while empowered teams optimize for outcome, meaning did the thing we shipped actually change customer behavior or move a business metric. The trouble with feature teams isn't effort or talent; it's that the people closest to the technology and the customer have no say in what gets built, so the organization systematically discards the judgment of the people best positioned to have good judgment. Executives and stakeholders, however smart, are several steps removed from daily user reality and technical possibility. Cagan treats this misallocation of decision rights as the single biggest reason capable people build mediocre products.

Takeaway: If the people building the product don't influence what gets built, you've built an assembly line, not a product team.