When I joined Vitrifi, I was the first person with a Product or Project Management background. The company was a purely engineer-led organisation with fast-growing teams but no Product discipline, minimal structure, and no standardised way of working.
The question was simple but challenging:
How do you build an entire Product function from scratch in an engineering-first organisation?
The Challenge
Communication:
Microsoft Teams channels were silent.
Most discussions happened over email or in silos.
Minimal cross-team collaboration.
Management:
Almost no formal managers - dev leads handled all management.
No Product Management function.
No standardised Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
Organisation:
Engineering teams were growing quickly.
No documented company or product strategy.
My Approach
Step 1 - Working Solo
Partnered with team leads to unify and document the SDLC.
Introduced fundamental Product processes: PRDs, user story breakdowns.
Advocated for better communication โ launched Mattermost for async collaboration.
Adapted GitLab task tracking to support the new SDLC.
Drafted an operational model for a future Product team.
Prioritised one critical team (GUI & API) while supporting others at a structural level.
Outcome after 1 year:
Active async communication culture โ channels were alive and organised.
Documented SDLC with clear stages and full work traceability.
A foundation for scaling Product work across the organisation.
Step 2 - Building the Team
Hired and onboarded the first Product Managers.
Expanded processes to cover multiple domains as new teams formed.
Built the Product teamโs culture and operating model.
Introduced a Roadmap system in Notion that became a company-wide reference.
Established working relationships and boundaries with new departments (Commercial, PMO, Marketing).
Created a Product Directory to process and prioritise new ideas.
Set up structured insight systems: Customer DB and Competitor DB.
Conclusion & Impact
In two years, Vitrifi transformed from an engineer-driven, process-light organisation into a company with:
A functional Product organisation supporting multiple domains.
Clear processes for strategy, execution, and communication.
A scalable way of working that supported both rapid growth and cross-department alignment.
๐ก Key takeaway: Building a Product function from scratch requires starting small (solo impact and foundational processes), then scaling through structure, hiring, and cross-company collaboration.
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Posted Oct 14, 2025
Built a Product function from scratch at Vitrifi, enhancing communication and processes.