Embracing the Product Ops Evolution
For the past decade I’ve been hearing from …
… Product Managers; that they want more time to focus on building and executing their strategy, to raise up above the tactical day-to-day, to truly understand their customers and what they value, to be successful in achieving what the business needs, that they want to become product leaders.
… Product Leadership; that they’d love a model that can rapidly scale, to be able to identify and replicate the best product practices of their highest performing teams across the organisation, to understand at the right level the progress their teams are making, to understand which teams and individuals need more support, to know the capabilities of their Product Managers, that they want to foster a strong product thinking culture.
… Executive Leadership; that they’d love to know the progress their product organisation is making towards their goals, any problems or challenges they can help to alleviate, the success, failure and learnings their teams are having, if their business strategy is communicated, understood and actionable.
… Agile Coaches; that they’d love to have a product focused counterpart to build strong Agile practices with, to instil a mindset of continuous improvement in all aspects of understanding customers and building products, to empower Software Engineers to be involved in the full lifecycle of building a product — from discovery through to delivery, launching and iterating.
Product Ops is uniquely placed to help solve many of these challenges, further unlocking the potential of each of these roles.
Emerging roles can feel threatening. It can feel like the core concept and most important or enjoyable tasks of an existing role are being stripped away. It can also feel like an extra layer of complexity and yet another communication line has been added.
User Experience design went through the same challenge — it was an ‘underground movement’ in many organisations. I’ve seen both that and the times when Product Managers were struggling to convince Engineering teams that their role was important. I’ve seen Agile Coaches try to convince teams, that believed they were highly effective in Agile software development, that their role was crucial to success.
I’m wondering if some of this fear of Product Operations is coming from the Agile statements ‘Build the thing right’ and ‘Build the right thing’?
Traditionally Agile Coaches have been focused on the former and Product Management on the latter. Now, I know that everything is a ‘team sport’, however these roles have shown the most interest in Product Ops compared to others.
What needs to be realised is that Product Ops is an enablement function, having the most impact at scaling organisations. Depending on the need, it can sit across both of these areas.
It’s also important to recognise that product operations is already happening in your organisation — people are already doing it!
If you’re a Product Manager that is spending an inordinate amount of time trying to find business and product performance data, or perfecting a unique slide deck format for a fifteen minute meeting with Executive leadership to explain your roadmap progress, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Think deeply about the organisation you’re working in. If that organisation is asking Product Managers to do work that is not directly linked to achieving what customers want and the business needs. If they’re incentivising and rewarding Product Managers for that type of work, then you should consider how they value product thinking and maybe look for a new role.
If your organisation is hiring a Product Ops function that allows that focus to thrive, so that you can do what is truly needed, this in my opinion is a very positive sign.
Embracing the change that Product Ops brings, if you’re lucky enough to be in an organisation that values it, will mean you can focus on what matters to your customers and business, and ultimately you’ll be even more successful. If an organisation values building a Product Ops function that enables all of this, they will be more efficient and effective and have a better competitive advantage. Something I think we all want!
Chris Compston, a Product Ops Coach & Consultant and creator of the Lean Capability Canvas — maximising the performance and impact of product teams. He has over a decade working in technology organisations. Enabling teams to build better products for their customers and the business.
