High morale, strong teamwork, and proactive thinking (instead of reactive thinking) are essential catalysts for the development of products that meet or exceed customer expectations. The traditional organizational structure into which development work is segmented can either impede or enhance the ability of developers to form effective teams. Because of their usual hierarchical form and often rigid boundaries, organizational structures can also inhibit the development of a strong sense of ownership, thereby stifling creative, proactive problem solving. This paper describes a way to form empowered teams around traditional organizational boundaries, i.e., by organizing the team into a subproject team. The subproject concept was used effectively in the development of a hardware, firmware, and operating system platform for a new PBX. We did not create the usual artificial deliveries between hardware and software organizations through contractual obligations. Instead, we formed a subproject that encompassed all the development work needed to formulate, test, and deploy the new PBX vehicle. Quality metrics data for the subproject showed an increase in customer satisfaction, high team morale, and a reduction in necessary rework.