The Real Impact of Mergers & Acquisitions on Your Product Team

Tasha Melchior at UXDX EMEA. Video: https://youtu.be/fIs5n78sKSM

Readable transcript: edited from the recording's captions for readability (fillers and false starts removed, punctuation and section headings added). Wording is the speaker's own. Timestamps are positions in the video. Names marked [?] could not be verified against the audio.

Introduction, and a board game called Acquire

[00:00:12] Hi everybody. Thank you UXDX for having me today. I'm here to tell you the story. I've actually lost count, so I'm not sure if it's seven exactly, but I'm going to tell you a bit of the story that our company has been through in the last few years. But first let me just introduce myself. Like many people in product, I actually come from a very different background. I worked as a history teacher for many years and then, after studying software, I moved into product. Within product I've worked in various industries and recently circled back into edtech, which has been really nice, and that was when I joined Everway.

[00:00:52] I'm also the UXDX ambassador in Copenhagen. We've had some great meetups so far. You can see a bit of the photos, a lot of networking, a lot of really good knowledge sharing. And if anybody wants to come to Copenhagen and give a talk, just grab me during the break.

[00:01:07] One other thing about me is that I really, really love board games. I have stacks and shelves with board games at home. Almost every weekend my family and I and friends all get together and play board games. I'm just curious to see how many of you have played the game Acquire. Raise your hand. Oh, very few. Okay, so first of all, I recommend playing it. It's not a very well-known game, but it's like Monopoly's sophisticated and grown up and interesting big sister.

[00:01:40] In Acquire, what you do is you strategically invest in companies. You help them grow. You watch them grow. And then eventually these corporations either swallow each other in lucrative mergers, or are acquired by a larger company in an acquisition. The game really mirrors the real world excitement of mergers and acquisitions. And I thought I knew quite a lot about M&As before I joined Everway, but little did I know.

From Texthelp to Everway

[00:02:08] Some people in the crowd might know me as working at Texthelp. Texthelp was founded in 1996 and has been providing people with assistive technology ever since. Over the past few years, Texthelp has strategically acquired several smaller companies. I didn't put them all here because the list is quite long, but it was trying to expand its reach and capabilities, both in region and in products. Some of the companies are from Scandinavia, some from the US, but most notably was our recent merger with n2y, a similar size company, both around 300 employees, and today we're Everway.

[00:02:53] The companies combined, in the past 30 years, have been creating software that helps people understand and be understood. We work across 10 global offices. Our team of around 600 has delivered products to over 250 million people, and that's across around 150 countries. I'm based in Copenhagen. My team is in offices all over the world. My product team are based in Scandinavia, UK, US, and I even have one product manager in Melbourne. You can imagine what it's like scheduling team meetings. But we make it work. It's really fun and diverse.

[00:03:35] The premise we work with at Everway is that every mind is unique. We don't all think, work, communicate, learn in the same way. Being a teacher, I know that very, very well. Try teaching a classroom of 30 students, especially when some of them are neurodiverse. So traditional one-size-fits-all systems just don't cut it. There's always people who are left behind. There are barriers holding people back, and there are just too many people that are left behind.

[00:04:08] So at Everway we believe that understanding and being understood is really vital for everyone. That's why the software that we create is designed to break down those barriers and to help people express themselves and learn and ingest information in the way that's customized and best for them. So our tools are actually necessary for some but really useful for all.

[00:04:33] We're a B2B company primarily. We sell to municipalities, to schools. We even have a few statewide deals in the US. So the state of Arkansas, for example, purchased our software and provides it to all students in all classrooms across the state. I might get back to that a bit later, because we have some really interesting research from the state of Arkansas.

[00:04:56] But whether it's reading or writing, whether it's math or task management, all of our solutions transform the way we understand. They're more than just a set of tools. They're really a catalyst for change. So by empowering people to work and learn and communicate in their own way, we are helping people, and we're building a neurodiverse world.

Neurodiversity, and from kindergarten to gray

[00:05:25] I want to talk a bit about the types of neurodiversity that we address. Some of you have heard about dyslexia, autism, ADHD. I think some of you have children who might be diagnosed. In the past, it was something that had a lot of stigma attached to it. I remember when I was in high school, I had a friend who wasn't doing very well at school. When she was failing exams over and over, we all thought that she just wasn't that smart. And then she got a diagnosis and she started taking oral exams and having things read out for her, and she got the best grades out of all of us. It was really mind-blowing for us to experience that.

[00:06:03] I think that we're in a bit of a different place today, but we're still not quite there. I think there's still a lot of shame attached to learning disabilities, and it's really incredible, because people who actually have learning disabilities or are neurodiverse often, through their compensation and through their experience, have superpowers that neurotypical people don't have.

[00:06:27] Another thing we realized in the last few years is that we were targeting mainly education, but then realizing that a lot of our students grow up and they leave school and they get to university and then they're not supported in the right way, and then they get to the workplace and they're not supported with all the tools that we'd provide. So now our expanded strategy is what we call K to gray. So kindergarten until you turn gray.

[00:06:54] The way we think about the tools that we provide is a bit like eyeglasses. Imagine when they were first invented, they were bulky and uncomfortable and only for people who really, really needed them, and people who wore glasses were maybe labeled as different, maybe even less intelligent. But if you think about eyeglasses today, they're stylish, they're comfortable. They're worn by a broad range of people. Sometimes they're even worn as an accessory. Sometimes you even want to wear glasses to appear more intellectual. So that's where we're headed. We're building a future where everyone can learn and understand in the way that works best for them.

[00:07:36] My team is responsible for the assisting pillar. The assisting products are all designed to support learners. We also have another pillar that is more focused on generating learning content. But the assisting tools, and especially Read&Write, our literacy toolbar, is a market leader in all the regions in which we operate, and it really helps students. We talk to students, we talk to the teachers, and we know that they have a really, really big impact.

People, product, process: the three areas I gauge

[00:08:03] So now that you have a good idea of what we're doing, I want to shift gears and take you a bit behind the scenes, because the story I want to tell you today is about the impact that these mergers and acquisitions have had on my team. I'm not going to cover all the details, because there's a lot to tell and there's a lot of pain to share, but I'll touch on the key things.

[00:08:28] In my work as a product lead, there are always three areas that I'm gauging and trying to see how they're doing: people, product and process, kind of my holy trinity. So for people and culture, in that aspect I'll always be asking, are my team empowered enough? Do they know what to be working on? Is the team culture a healthy one? Is the environment one that they can thrive in? For the product, I'll be asking, is the product strategy clear? Is it well defined? Does everybody know, is everyone on board? And will our products be hired by the users for the jobs that they need done?

[00:09:08] And third, a few people have talked today about process. I really enjoyed the mentioning of process yesterday and how important it is, because I'm a really, really big fan of processes. I think that when a process is repeatable, measurable and scalable, it can really empower the team. And as our CEO Craig often says, it's like a bicycle frame. If it's broken, you can pedal as fast as you want and use all your might, but you'll be driving in the wrong direction. So good processes are like having a good, sturdy bike frame.

[00:09:47] So having these three areas in good shape is something that we all want as product leads. But what happens when you throw mergers and acquisitions into the mix? One analogy that comes to my mind is this one. A few years ago, a friend of mine was marrying her third child. While everyone was so excited about the wedding, there was definitely some tension and discomfort in the family. She said that a family is like a scale, more or less balanced. I know not all families are fully balanced, but somewhat balanced. But then when a new family member enters, it really tips the scale and everybody loses their footing. And she said that it takes about a year, from her experience of the third child, it takes about a year to find that rebalance.

[00:10:34] From my experience, every new acquisition is a bit like a new family member joining. So every time it happens, it does tip the balance, and then it takes time and effort to rebalance. Some of you might know Tuckman's model of team development: forming, storming, norming, performing. That storming phase, it's not an easy one.

The people side: two cultures colliding

[00:11:01] So let's dive a bit into the people aspect. I was chatting at one of the meetups in Copenhagen with my friend Runa. He's a chief technology and product officer of Starred[?], a product recruitment platform that merged with another product called Talenthub. He shared how everyone was so excited about the merger. When they first met, it seemed like it was a perfect match. They believed in the same values. The teams were really going to vibe together. But when they started working closely together, they realized that there were a lot of differences, a lot of difference in the process, a lot of difference in the culture. There were really many of those.

[00:11:43] I think we had a bit of a similar experience at Everway. I saw this happening with those acquisitions that I witnessed. Just imagine, in some of the countries we had companies that were competing with each other for years, explaining to other people why the other products were really, really bad and their product was really, really good. And then suddenly one day those people are your colleagues. You really believe in the way you work, you get really connected to your brand identity, especially if you've been there for many years, and a lot of these companies are companies that have been operating for 10, 15, 20 years. It's not easy to suddenly switch and get a new brand name and get new colleagues.

[00:12:27] So that shift is not easy. I think that we all try and be positive and optimistic, or some of us do, when we face big change, especially when we don't really have much to say on the matter. It's not our decision. But let's face it, change is hard. And it's not just M&As that throw us into it. We saw yesterday all the gifs and waves and slides around how many things change. I was not going to mention the word AI, to try and be the one talk that does not mention AI, but I will mention that it's just another type of change that we're facing. That's the way life operates.

[00:13:05] I know that I don't have to convince anyone here about how much effort that takes. It's adapting. It's unlearning. It's saying goodbye to what's really comfortable. And we are creatures of habit. We want things just to be steady. We like navigating in familiar waters. So when we're navigating change, it calls for more than just skill. It actually requires a lot of emotional agility and strength and willingness to step outside our habits and our established routines.

[00:13:37] So here's the thing. I'm sure you've seen similar slides before, I'm not revealing something new here, but change is also the one thing that we can count on. That's life. And learning to deal with it is key.

[00:13:51] I want to share with you just one of the changes that I experienced from an org chart perspective. I really like org charts. Whenever I start at a new company, I study the org chart, because I think that org charts convey much more than just a reporting line. They actually show a lot about the inherent structure of an organization.

[00:14:08] So here's a before and after of just my team. It's not a precise depiction, but enough to give you an idea of the change that I've been through. Two years ago I was reporting to the CPO, leading a team of PMs, overlooking six products. Today my responsibility has grown. I'm working alongside a fellow VP of product and we're both reporting to the EVP, who then reports to the CPO. I've met a lot of new people. It's really exciting. We're learning a lot from each other.

[00:14:41] But you can imagine, just looking at this graphic, how many different layers there are to this shift. On the one hand, yes, I've been promoted, I have more mandate, I have much more responsibility. But on the other hand, I'm actually one step removed from the senior leadership team. So when it comes to communication flows, when it comes to my ability to influence a product strategy, it's a big shift.

The product side: a growing portfolio

[00:15:05] Let's move on to the products. So these are our products. Quite a lot, don't you think? The result of each acquisition and merger is a growing product portfolio. Each product is valuable. Each product is tied to revenue. There are users using these products. There are customers who love these products. So what do you do? Do you just say goodbye, put them in maintenance, sunset them, consolidate? Each of these decisions is a really big one.

[00:15:39] You don't need to be a genius to say you need to simplify. It's not sustainable having a sales team that needs to learn what each and every one of these products does. So it's really a no-brainer that we need to simplify, and a cohesive product suite is just paramount for a company's success. And each of these products needs to have consistent branding, consistent UI and UX, a design framework. That isn't something that just happens by itself.

[00:16:13] A very relevant example for my own team's work is our literacy toolbars. We have a set of several literacy toolbars, each tailor made for the region that we sell it in. Our literacy toolbars help diverse and multilingual learners build their ability and their skills around reading and writing. So we have features like read aloud and screen masking and dictionaries and word prediction, and they work across many different platforms, so they get a consistent experience whether they're on their desktop or on mobile or on the web. These literacy toolbars support them and give the students confidence to learn in their own way.

[00:16:59] So when we acquired Don Johnston in the US, they were selling Co:Writer and Snap&Read, and we decided that we're going to transition the customers from those two products into Read&Write. But we wanted to give them a similar look and feel. We wanted the experience to be intuitive and familiar. So we decided to take a lot of the features and capabilities, and some of the underlying capabilities like the language engines, the word prediction engines, and insert them into Read&Write.

[00:17:27] Now I wanted to bring a graphic example, because it's a UXDX conference. Just looking at the toolbars in Read&Write, the standard mode was a toolbar anchored at the top of the screen, and with Co:Writer and Snap&Read there were two other views of the display mode. One was a vertical mode and one was a focused reading and writing mode. Some of our very talented team of designers are sitting here in the room today. They designed a solution that really enabled us to smoothly move users across. So here you can see just one example of a specific feature and how it appears in all three modes, and the students will move between these modes based on the use case and the context that they're in. This is still a process. We haven't yet transitioned all of our customers over, but the end goal of this project is to eventually sunset two of the products and move people over.

[00:18:24] In Sweden, we actually took a bit of a different approach. In Sweden, three of the companies pre-acquisition were selling three different literacy toolbars, and we decided to build one new one, what our head of sales called a super product. So we again went to the drawing board and designed a literacy toolbar that really fits the Scandinavian simplicity and minimalism. It's really interesting to see how it's going there, because since we launched this product in May last year, the active user number is growing significantly. We're getting really good feedback. So here you can see that instead of the three different modes, we have this expandable display. That was just trying to give you a taste of how it works with the product decisions.

The process side: the roadmap deck

[00:19:20] We've covered the people and products. We'll move on to the process. As you understood, I'm really, really passionate about processes. I think they really give people clarity and predictability, and for a product team I think that when you have a clear process, especially when it comes to roadmap processes, when you have a lot of stakeholders to update, it can be something that you spend a lot of time and energy on. So my team and I were trying to design a process that would be sweet and simple and concise. We worked on this process before the merger, and this process was really loved by our stakeholders, so I want to share it with you.

[00:20:03] We decided to keep all our product roadmaps in one slide deck. For each product there was a certain area in the slide deck. The PM maintained four key slides. One listing the deliveries in the past six months, one providing the roadmap for the coming two quarters, six months. Then also an annual timeline, and an idea list with the top 10 ideas and requests for the product.

[00:20:32] The roadmap slide listed the items to be worked on in the now, next, later concept. I'm sure you're all familiar with that. So it showed the now, then we had the next with the items that would be coming up, and we also kept this out of scope frame just to clarify that what we had here was only things to be delivered. So if there were things that we were working on and were not yet going to be delivered in the six months, we could signal, don't worry, we're on it, we know it's needed, it's going to come, but it's not yet there.

[00:21:02] And anyone who wanted to know more about the items that are to be delivered soon could just click on any item, and that led them to a hero slide. The hero slide was this one pager describing the what and the why, as well as how we plan to measure the success of the improvement. It also linked out to marketing materials that were being worked on. We used those tags to tag the strategic work, so that each item was linked to the strategic priorities. And when relevant, we used to have a screenshot of the UI.

[00:21:45] The roadmap deck was a live document. It was being updated all the time when needed. But before the start of every quarter, the PM went in and updated the information and archived all the completed hero slides. So this deck was really, really useful for many. Engineers and developers were in it all the time. It gave them a bigger picture of what's going on. Sales and customer success would go into specific hero slides and share screenshots of them with customers so that they could see what was coming. And of course management was in there all the time. I really liked the Google Slides feature that you can see who's where. I used to follow the CEO, see what he's looking at.

[00:22:20] So you might wonder how we got buy-in for these roadmaps. I'll just briefly share the alignment cycle we created. Of course there were many meetings and touch bases between stakeholders. But every quarter the PM would draft the roadmap together with the engineering manager. Then they would meet with the product and tech leadership, show what they've achieved, explain what they're planning to do. Then we'd have a handshake meeting with business development, so marketing, sales and customer success. And then we would share a broader product update with the whole company.

[00:23:00] We really liked this process. After the merger took place last year, we got a new CEO and a new CPO. And as new leaders come in, they bring in their own way of working, which is fair. They also need to align a much bigger team. So our new CPO came with his experience and his way of working and his preferences, and implemented them. So in the past four months, we've transitioned to using Productboard. How many of you use Productboard? Okay. How many of you love Productboard? Okay.

[00:23:31] I actually love it now, but I have to admit that I really resisted this change, because when it ain't broke, don't fix it. I thought that what we had really worked well. But at the same time, the CPO was the one who called the shots. So as I mentioned before, change is hard, and it really requires being open-minded and patient and accepting. And as someone who values process, I also see of course the need and the value of aligning these processes across teams.

Emotional agility, and takeaways

[00:24:06] Which leads me to an important concept that I hope you can take away with you today. What do M&As require from a product team? Not only agile development but also emotional agility. Where there are mergers there is friction. There are different personalities. There's sometimes chaos and hardships, and to be honest, it has been an emotional roller coaster. So I like using an emotions wheel, and there are many of them online. I just picked this one, to help deal with distracting emotions. You can start by identifying the emotion that you're feeling. Then you move on to accepting the emotion, and then trying not to fight it or judge it but stepping out and choosing to lift yourself out of the fog and act according to your values.

[00:24:56] So what are my takeaways from this journey? That it's messy, that it's hard, but it's also really, really exciting. I'm learning new things every day and I can really feel how in time the sense of balance is slowly returning. I'm quite certain that the scale will tip again with new mergers and new acquisitions, but my team and I are building resilience, and when things seem hard, it's really a sign that we're growing. Thank you.

Q&A

[00:25:32] Host: Amazing. So good. So good. I can't believe that in 25 minutes you managed to get through even just one of those three. Getting through that and explaining how that is in the context of such massive organizational change would have been impressive, to deliver all three is really fantastic work. Lots of love hearts coming in for you there. Absolutely brilliant work. Let's dive into the questions. I'm a little bit overwhelmed and don't have any good ones to ask myself. So, post merger, when there's a power imbalance between product teams, you're now one of two VPs, so that's interesting. How do you prevent dominant team bias from steamrolling the nuance or local knowledge from the acquired company? Or don't you? Is that the awkward answer, just steamroll them? Yeah, steal[?].

[00:26:21] Tasha: No, no. I think that's a really good question. One thing that I didn't mention is how in each of these organizations there were experts in dyslexia and experts in neurodiversity and experts in linguistics, and one of the things that happened was that we lost some of those resources, because not everybody sticks around when there are these acquisitions and mergers. So I need to think about the steamrolling thing. I don't feel like I experience that as much. I feel like we do have a really, really good respectful culture. I think that the problem is less steamrolling, it's more silos, that we're still trying to glue the teams together.

[00:27:00] Host: Yeah, absolutely. Your EVP is not in the room, are they? No. Oh, cool. What's the need for them?

[00:27:08] Tasha: That's a very good question. I didn't show the whole org, and of course there's also a head of design and there are other people in the product team, and because we're doing content there are a lot of people in content. So our CPO actually has around 100 people reporting to him. So it does make sense in the structure to have that mid layer. At the same time, I do question it sometimes, and I think time will tell what the role of each of us really is. We're still kind of trying to figure that out, but I think that our CPO is very, very close to the senior leadership team layer, and the EVP is much more hands-on and working with the VPs closely. So there are benefits to it, definitely.

[00:27:53] Host: Nice. You're still working through trying to be diplomatic. Still figuring out. Oh, it's good. You can ask Tasha again over beers later. Great question here. How are you balancing, as an organization with that huge product suite, how do you balance developing new features to keep users engaged versus combining tools to hit that consolidated future state?

[00:28:17] Tasha: I think that's a wonderful question. I was talking over dinner last night with a few of the other speakers, and I was sharing the story, and a few people said, you know, mergers and acquisitions aside, the challenges you have are challenges we all have. I think that this is valid for any company. You're constantly trying to work on tech debt, trying to improve existing features and incrementally improve stuff, and at the same time you want to be innovative. So I think finding that balance, if you find the answer, let me know how to do it. But we're trying to keep that balance constantly. To me, one of the things that I'm really passionate about is user research, and we've finally brought in more user researchers to our organization, and I think that is really key to helping us dig into the problems and understand the jobs to be done, and there we can try and balance the efforts of both improving but also being innovative.

[00:29:10] Host: Yeah, nice. You are getting a lot of tough questions from this. You clearly presented a lot of amazing stuff. Different countries have different work cultures. Some are hierarchical, some are let's climb the ladder, let's get promoted. Other countries are a completely opposite culture. Have you experienced that? Do you have a solution to that?

[00:29:29] Tasha: Oh, I wish. I don't know if you're familiar with the book The Culture Map. There's a really good book that I like that describes the different cultures. And actually, as somebody who was born in South Africa, grew up in Israel, and lives in Scandinavia, I feel like I've experienced quite a few cultures, and it actually is my superpower, maybe, understanding these different cultures and trying to navigate them. I think that we're still really a long way from figuring that out. But it's so interesting observing the way the Americans work and interact, the way the Northern Irish do. We had a headquarters in Antrim in Northern Ireland. There are such different styles. But I think that that's also just part of life, that's not unique to our company. So it's a challenge, but it's exciting and fun.

[00:30:24] Host: Very good. I noticed something pop up that said that AhaSlides was being a bit buggy. I'm going to do the standard tech thing and say unhook from the Wi-Fi, hook back in, or open it and close it, see if you can get back in. Culture change: how did the culture change or evolve? Did you have a set idea that you wanted to rebalance the scales to where they were previously, or did you have to adapt and come to a new culture?

[00:30:50] Tasha: So I think what's interesting about this question is that there's a big difference between acquisitions and mergers, like in Acquire. No, I'm kidding, the board game doesn't really convey it well. But acquisitions, obviously there's a stronger player and a weaker player, you can call it, or a bigger and smaller. So when we acquired, the expectation was that the new teams will kind of be absorbed into the bigger team and bow down to their processes and culture. And I think, as much as we try and be respectful, at the end of the day, when I ask a product manager who's just joined my team and is working with Shape Up and is doing awesome work with Shape Up, he taught me so much about it, and then he tries and suggests that I and my nine teams start working with Shape Up, it's like, I wish, but that's not going to happen.

[00:31:44] Tasha: So I think it relates to culture and processes, but when there's a merger, it's a completely different story. A merger, I think, is much, much more tricky, because you're actually trying to bring two big teams together. So our culture work has evolved and the new CEO has redefined the culture, the values, and I would say that that's an ongoing process.

[00:32:06] Host: You heard it here first. Everyone, please give a massive round of applause again, Tasha. Thank you. Thank you so much. Well done. It's great.