Talking Roadmaps Should Product Ops aim to be redundant? | Hugo Froes
Sep 26, 2025
Hugo Froes, Head of Product Operations at OLX, shares his insights on the role of product ops in scaling organizations. He argues that product ops should aim to become redundant by removing friction and optimizing processes. Hugo discusses the critical moments when product ops become essential, how to structure them effectively, and the importance of collaboration. He also warns against rigidity, highlights best practices for starting product ops, and reframes critics’ views by positioning product ops as enabling teams. A must-listen for those in product management!
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Aim For Redundancy
- Product ops' goal should be to make itself unnecessary by enabling teams to work better.
- Remove duplication and free product teams to focus on discovery and strategy.
Value During Scale-Up
- Product ops is not universally required; value grows during scaling when informal fixes stop working.
- Startups may not need it, but scale-ups benefit from a dedicated role to stabilise ways of working.
Start From A Concrete Pain
- Start product ops from the most pressing pain: broken processes or uncurated data.
- Fix one area first and then expand as you reveal other gaps.
