Cloud Kicks currently supports three business lines within a single Salesforce instance:
Running, Athleisure, and Celebrity Co- Branded. The VP of Athleisure controls a large
budget and is often
able to re-prioritize business stories and 'shadow projects' into releases ahead of other
groups.
This topic comes up frequently and often derails the monthly project management meeting.
This limits the amount of time available to cover other critical topics.
Which strategy should the consultant recommend to address these issues?
A. Create a weekly all-hands call, including business and technology resources, to review
direction and priority of development.
B. Propose a monthly executive steering committee to manage budget, handle direction
questions, and ensure development capacity is split equitably.
C. Divide the development team into three units/tracks to support each line of business
Independently.
B. Propose a monthly executive steering committee to manage budget, handle direction
questions, and ensure development capacity is split equitably.
Explanation: The recurring issue faced by Cloud Kicks involves a power imbalance and
frequent re-prioritization by the VP of Athleisure, which disrupts project management
meetings and limits time for other priorities. Establishing a monthly executive steering
committee can address these issues effectively.
Here’s why this is the best approach:
Balanced Oversight and Governance: An executive steering committee brings together key
decision-makers to review priorities, manage budget allocations, and ensure all business
lines are fairly represented in development planning. This provides a formal structure to
manage competing interests.
Equitable Development Allocation: By involving multiple executives, the steering committee
can objectively assess and allocate resources among business lines, helping to prevent
one group from overshadowing others. This will help maintain balanced focus and avoid over-prioritizing certain projects.
Strategic Decision-Making: With a recurring monthly meeting, the committee can focus on
big-picture decisions, reducing the likelihood of frequent, ad hoc project adjustments that
derail meetings and detract from strategic discussions.
Option A (weekly all-hands call) may be too frequent and is not ideal for executive decisionmaking.
Option C (dividing the development team) could lead to resource inefficiencies and
reduce flexibility. The steering committee approach is a standard Salesforce-recommended
best practice for managing cross-functional priorities and balancing strategic initiatives. For
more on governance best practices, refer to Salesforce's guide on Governance
Frameworks.