Shared schema

The cross-functional contract: a shared set of fields and definitions that represent reality consistently across GTM30, without team-specific terminology or parallel tagging systems.

Last updated: December 12, 2025

Definition

The cross-functional contract: a shared set of fields and definitions that represent reality consistently across GTM30, without team-specific terminology or parallel tagging systems.

In practice

  • Pick the minimal shared fields and force all systems to read/write them (no private definitions).
  • Treat the glossary as part of the schema: if a term changes, update the whole stack in the same week.

Common mistakes

  • Allowing teams to redefine terms locally (“ICP”, “intent”, “persona”) based on tool constraints or convenience.
  • Storing glossaries in multiple places (docs + slides + CRM notes) with inconsistent wording.

Related terms

  • Cross-functionality (in GTM30)One shared narrative, one shared data model, one shared view of the customer, and one shared operating cadence across Product, Growth, Sales, and Support.
  • Entity modelA small, stable set of entities (problems, use cases, roles/personas, industries, etc.) and their fields/relationships that power content, analytics, automation, and LLM retrieval.
  • ICP (ideal customer profile)A definition of who a message, page, and motion is for — operationalized in GTM30 as shared schema fields used across content, community, and systems.
  • PersonaA role-based slice of the ICP (e.g. PM, engineer, operator, buyer) used consistently across the schema to keep narrative, routing, and assets aligned.
  • Lifecycle stageWhere a customer is in their journey (e.g. awareness → evaluation → activation → retention), used as a shared field to align content, sales plays, and support responses.
  • Intent levelA shared signal of how close someone is to action (low/medium/high), inferred from patterns like page types viewed, depth, and CTA behavior — used for routing and prioritization.