Convergent Tribes
Your product teams ship. Is it creating value?
Budgets now follow value you can show. Convergent Tribes helps product and engineering organizations create maximum value, and show it.
- Steer to value
With the CT Value Rings: the scope of responsibility your product needs.
- Build the organization
With seven building blocks (McKinsey 7S), in three organization layers: strategic, tactical and operational.
- Multiply with AI
Once your organization works in the ring it needs, start multiplying value by scaling AI.
- Measure every quarter
And show it: value, capability and the objectives you approve.
Growth got harder and output alone stopped counting.
Cheap capital made growth the only metric that mattered. That era ended in 2022: every budget line now has to earn its place. At the same time, AI makes output cheap, but not more valuable.
Our mission: help product organizations create maximum value, and show it. By value we mean revenue that grows, costs that drop and risk that shrinks.
fewer global VC deals than in 2022. Capital got selective.1
of B2B companies missed their growth targets in 2025, up from 32%.2
more tasks completed by teams using AI.3
of features shipped drive 80% of usage. More output is not more value.4
No visible value, no budget.No budget, no mandate.Visible value secures both.
1 CB Insights, State of Venture 2025 (2026). 2 Bain & Company, 2026 B2B Growth Agenda. 3 Faros.ai, The Acceleration Whiplash (2026). 4 Pendo, Product Benchmarks (2024).
Recognize this? Two or more, and value is left on the table.
The gap is the system, not the people. The most common cause is the feature trap: teams build what is asked, not what creates value.
Ask yourself: when your teams pick what to build next, does the plan decide, or evidence of customer value?
- The roadmap is the sum of stakeholder requests.75% of 5,000 PMs report core practices missing or immature.5
- The hub delivers, but does not decide.56% of India's GCCs (in-house hubs) deliver without owning the product.6
- Teams are judged on delivery, not on effect.1 in 3 product professionals is not held to a clear metric.7
- AI makes teams faster, but it does not move the P&L.37% see any profit (EBIT) effect from AI, while 80% feel more productive.8
The upside: maturity pays
total shareholder return, top-half versus bottom-half product operating models.9
operating margin, same 400+ listed companies.9
more new products hit their commercial goals at top performers (76% versus 54%).10
5 McKinsey, The download on product management (2023). 6 Zinnov-NASSCOM, India GCC Landscape Report (2026). 7 Product Focus, Product Management Survey (2026). 8 McKinsey, The state of AI in 2026 (2026). 9 McKinsey, The bottom-line benefit of the product operating model (2023). 10 Castellion & Markham, New Product Failure Rates, Journal of Product Innovation Management (2013). The figures marked 9 and 10 show correlation, not causation.
Steer to maximum value with the CT Value Rings™
Each ring is a scope of responsibility: how far an organization looks when it decides, plans, measures and hires.
- Answers to
- In scope
- What it delivers
Select a ring to explore the model.
- Your product sets the ring it needs. What it touches (customers, market, partners, society) sets the scope of responsibility your organization needs. Never below ring 3.
- Your organization works in a ring today. That is its actual scope of responsibility; often ring 2.
- The gap between them is untapped value and unseen risk. Feature trap, ring 2: a quarter spent on a sales promise to one big account. Shipped on time, and the account leaves anyway.
To reach the right ring, move all seven building blocks.
Every ring is built from seven building blocks (McKinsey 7S), in all three layers, strategic to operational.
Select a building block to read what it covers.
- The seven blocksThree hard (Strategy, Structure, Systems) and four soft (Shared Values, Style, Staff, Skills); a standard since 1980.
- Why all sevenThe blocks are linked: when one moves alone, the others pull it back.
- How the diagnosis uses themThe CT Diagnostic scores all seven, on the human and the AI side, in three layers.
Then multiply value with AI.
AI multiplies whatever ring your organization works in: step out of the feature trap first, then scale.
Value-driven · rings 3-7
Capacity-bound
The right decisions, but people are the bottleneck.
↑ 1. step up first✓ Value at scale
AI takes on the workload; people do higher-value work.
→ 2. then scalePersonal productivity
Individuals save time. What gets built stays the same.
most start here! Feature trap at scale
More output, faster, for the loudest voice.
⇢ shortcutFeature-driven · rings 1-2
AI scale → from personal assistant to agentic orchestration
Select a quadrant to read it.
Measure every quarter, and show it.
The objectives per building block carry the capabilities, and the capabilities carry the value.
North Star KPI
Value: one KPI for the product area, such as revenue, retention or cost.
Capabilities
How close the organization is to the ring it needs.
Objectives
Per building block, approved after the CT Diagnostic.
Measured every quarter
Four phases to the next ring.
Start free, decide at every phase: one product area moves one ring out in nine months.
CT Quick Scan
- Free 12-minute online assessment, for 1 to 6 people
- A 30-minute readout by video call
→ Indicative ring
CT Diagnostic
- Assess all 7 building blocks (McKinsey 7S)
- Per product area: actual vs. needed ring
- Roadmap, objectives and KPIs
→ Action plan
CT Program
- Steer: focus on the target ring and the gap
- Build: transform skills, roles, processes, tools and more, guided by CT and the CT AI Chatbot
- Multiply: scale up AI once the ring is right
- Measure: every quarter; up to 20% of the fee is only paid when the objectives you approve are met
→ Target ring in reach
CT Aftercare
- Monthly advisory hours
- The CT AI Chatbot stays, 24/7, with local context
- Cancel monthly
→ Ring takes hold
Start free. Every next phase is your choice.
Is this for you?
Product-led companies of any size, where a product and engineering unit of 25 to 100 people must create more value.
Distributed organizations
HQ with product teams in a hub elsewhere, where the hub still mainly delivers.
Relevant when HQ wants the hub to own product decisions.
Scale-ups
Fast growth, and the product organization can no longer keep pace.
Relevant when it outgrows how it is managed, often after a funding round.
Scaling business units
A unit inside a larger company with a new or bigger mandate.
Relevant when a new unit or integration must show value fast.
Established organizations
A mature unit without a growth task.
Relevant when it is asked for more value at the same or lower cost.
CT changes the system; others change people or tools.
What organizations usually buy instead, and what CT does that they don't.
| Typical alternative | Strategy consultancy | PM training | AI tooling | Convergent Tribes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All seven building blocks, hands-on | partly | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ In all three layers, strategic to operational |
| Paid on agreed results | partly | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ Up to 20% of the fee depends on results |
| People and AI mature together | partly | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ AI multiplies value, not just features |
| Free start, you decide each phase | ✕ | partly | partly | ✓ Free Quick Scan; you decide each phase |
| Knowledge stays | ✕ | partly | ✓ | ✓ CT AI Chatbot for the whole organization |
McKinsey 7S · CMMI · ISO 42001
Privacy and AI rulesDesigned with GDPR, the EU AI Act and India’s DPDP Act in mind. Your data stays in your environment: the CT AI Chatbot runs on the setup your tech staff or partners approve.
83% consistent
Tested on 12 public cases (incl. TSB, Boeing 737 MAX, Klarna), each diagnosed twice.
All seven building blocks, hands-on, partly paid on results.
Start here: see which ring your organization works in today.
The CT Quick Scan is free and takes about 12 minutes per person. Take it alone or with up to five colleagues: three people, one from each layer, give a good indication; six give the most reliable picture. You get an indicative ring per building block, see where your layers disagree, and a free 30-minute readout. Answer about how things actually work, not how they should. There are no right or wrong answers.
Before you start
Which describes your role best?
About this product area. Five short questions; answer yes or no.
Indicative ring per building block. Ring 3 is the minimum outside the feature trap.
This is one view from one layer. Invite up to five colleagues who work on this product area, from other layers: where your answers differ is often where the biggest opportunity lies.
How useful was this Quick Scan for you?
Thank you, this helps me improve the scan.
The CT Diagnostic: start directly, or after the free Quick Scan.
Six weeks, four on site, with little of your time. It ends in a decision report with an action plan; three views from it below. Fictional example: 60 people in product and engineering, HQ in London, hub in Bangalore.
1 Where you stand
Per product area: the actual ring and the needed ring.
Actual ring Needed ring Needed ring, reached
2 Baseline heatmap per area
Onboarding: the current ring per building block and layer. It needs ring 3.
| Shared Values | Strategy | Structure | Systems | Style | Staff | Skills | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strategic | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Tactical | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Operational | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
On the needed ring One ring to go AI side lags
3 One roadmap
Onboarding first, out of the feature trap. Shared gaps closed once.
Months of the CT Program, after the go/no-go. ◆ Measured every quarter.
Every product area gets its ring, its gap and its route.
How it works, what it asks, what you get
What we do
- Map every building block, systematically
- Interviews and knowledge sessions with leaders and teams
- A short survey for all product managers
- Documents and data: strategy, roadmaps, org design, processes, tooling, role profiles
- The status of all 7 building blocks, per layer and product area
What it asks of you
- A few hours per person
- 12 to 18 one-hour interviews
- A few knowledge sessions
- A 15-minute survey per product manager
- Access to documents and data
- One sponsor who owns the go/no-go
What you get
- A board-ready decision report
- Per product area: the actual ring and the needed ring
- A baseline heatmap per product area
- A roadmap with objectives and KPIs
- Your go/no-go: stop and keep the report, or continue
Six weeks, four on site. The decision stays yours.
Continue after the go/no-go? Then the CT Program takes one product area one ring out in nine months, measured every quarter, with part of the fee tied to objectives you approve.
CT Diagnostic: €7.5K instead of €15-25K, for the first four clients.
Excluding travel costs.
CT Program: half the fee fixed, half when the agreed results show.
For the first organization to start the CT Program. No success fee on top.
“He led his product managers through a real shift from a delivery-first mindset to a much more customer and value-driven way of working.”Nikhil Colaço, VP Product at Pencil, former Director of Product and my manager at Booking.com
I built the setup I now want to help others build.
Twenty years in product, over eight at Booking.com. My career taught me that teams rarely lack talent. They lack the system: clear strategy, lean structures, customer data, capacity, coaching, evidence-led leaders and a culture to test, fail and learn. That is what Convergent Tribes builds. Deliberately small: a few clients at a time, so each one gets my full attention.
- Scale and scope. Head of Product in Booking.com's fast-scaling FinTech unit. Led one department across Amsterdam and Bangalore, and built its teams in Bangalore.
- From delivery to value. Took every PM through a customer-centricity program. Highest people-manager score in FinTech (2023); reports promoted to Senior and Group PM.
- AI in operations. Led one of the first AI initiatives in Booking.com's FinTech unit. Far exceeded its workload-reduction target and won multiple internal awards.
Why it is safe to start with a new firm
One person. Standards, weekly reports and all knowledge in the CT AI Chatbot, so the work never depends on memory alone.
Your choice at every phase. You start with a free Quick Scan, and after the Quick Scan, the CT Diagnostic and the CT Program you decide whether to continue; Aftercare is monthly.
Capacity. At most two clients at a time; trained associates add capacity later.
Book an online introduction call.
A free 30-minute video call: an introduction to the CT Diagnostic and what it can mean for your organization. Pick a time that suits you in my calendar.
Pick a time
You get a calendar invite with a Google Meet link. Took the free Quick Scan? Mention your scan reference.
“One of the managers who set the bar for what a well-led, high-performing product organisation looked like.”Robert Kooyman, former peer at Booking.com
Let's talk
Maarten Wolters
info@convergenttribes.com
WhatsApp +31 6 533 135 93
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