Melissa Perri and Denise Tilles discuss their newly launched Product Ops book, the process of writing it, and the top three product challenges organizations face. They explore the value of product operations in enabling product managers to focus on strategy, the importance of data tracking and roadmapping, and the need to implement processes and tools. They also highlight the role of product operations in gathering insights and enabling product managers to be successful.
Implementing strong data and insights practices is crucial for successful product operations.
Developing a streamlined roadmap process and tooling is key to addressing the challenge of effectively surfacing what's happening within the teams and aligning with company goals.
Creating systems and processes that enable product teams to access and leverage customer and market insights is essential for effective product operations.
Deep dives
Challenges with Data and Insights
One of the main challenges in product operations is a surprising lack of foundational implementation when it comes to data and insights. Many companies don't have the necessary data tracking systems or have a sprawling system that doesn't provide meaningful insights. This inhibits product teams from making strategic decisions and can cause inefficiencies in the organization. Implementing strong data and insights practices is crucial for successful product operations.
Struggles with Roadmap Planning
Another challenge in product operations is effectively surfacing what's happening within the teams, specifically in terms of roadmap planning. Many companies struggle with creating and maintaining roadmaps that effectively communicate the product strategy and align with company goals. This can lead to misalignment between product managers and the leadership team, as well as lack of clarity on priorities and progress. Developing a streamlined roadmap process and tooling is key to addressing this challenge.
Empowering Product Teams with Customer and Market Insights
Empowering product teams to gather and leverage customer and market insights is another key challenge in product operations. While user research and customer insights are crucial for product success, coordinating and consolidating these insights can be challenging, especially in large organizations. Creating systems and processes that enable product teams to access and leverage customer and market insights is essential for effective product operations.
Building a Strong Product Operations Infrastructure
A major takeaway from the book is the importance of building a strong infrastructure for product operations. This means understanding that product operations is not just about hiring product managers, but creating processes, tools, and structures that support and enable the product organization. This infrastructure includes foundational implementation of data and insights, effective roadmap planning, and empowering product teams with customer and market insights.
Starting Small and Scaling Product Operations
The book emphasizes that it is totally doable to start small with product operations, even as a team of one. It highlights the importance of focusing on the most important needs and opportunities, and gradually scaling product operations based on the specific context of each organization. The key takeaway is that even small steps towards building a strong product operations infrastructure can have a significant impact on the success and effectiveness of the product organization.
This episode is a very special bonus one for Season 3. We chat to Melissa Perri and Denise Tilles about their highly anticipated and newly launched Product Ops book! Melissa is the CEO of Produx Labs, a Product Management training organisation, and the author of “Escaping the Build Trap.” Denise has over a decade of product leadership experience and works as an independent product consultant advising and coaching product teams across the world.
In this episode, we find out more about:
- their Product Ops book
- the process of writing the book
- the top three product challenges organisations face
Listen in for some unique insights from the authors of Product Operations: How Successful Organisations ensure winning strategies and effectively scale.
And if YOU would like to be a guest on Season 4 of POP, please get in touch and subscribe at productopspod.com
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