Product Operations: The secret weapon of successful product teams (Part I)

5 min readMar 22, 2023

If you’re a product leader, you know how challenging it can be to manage a product team that delivers value to customers and stakeholders consistently, and efficiently. You have to deal with multiple moving parts, from strategy alignment and roadmap planning, to product launches and feedback loops. All this while not only coordinating between product development teams but also trying to weave that golden thread with teams across the organization, such as marketing, sales, support, and finance.

As companies grow and products become more complex, the need for streamlined processes, better communication, and efficient decision-making has become more pronounced. Having product managers and engineers working together to develop products is no longer enough. Product Operations (ProdOps) is playing an increasingly critical role in powering the success of product teams by aligning cross-functional teams, standardizing and streamlining processes, and providing valuable data-driven insights. If you’re reading this you have already decided that product operations is right for you. Congratulations!

Product operations is a relatively new discipline in the world of software development, quickly gaining popularity thanks to the many benefits it offers. It emerged as a response to the increasing complexity and scale of building digital products in today’s fast-paced environment and the resulting growth in product managers’ workload. As such, there is no universally agreed-upon definition or framework for what constitutes product operations. Different organizations may have different interpretations or expectations of what this role entails. At its core, ProdOps is about enabling and supporting product teams to do their best work.

Some may see it as an evolution of project or program management focusing on coordinating tasks and timelines. In contrast, others may see it as an extension of user research focusing on understanding customer needs and pain points. The truth is that none of these perspectives are wrong per se but they are incomplete if taken in isolation. Product operations is not just one thing, but rather a combination of many things that support the overall success of the product team. ProdOps is a force multiplier, an enabler that helps teams work efficiently, reduce friction, and deliver high-quality products to market faster. ProdOps can act as a facilitator, bringing different stakeholders together to ensure everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goal.

Anyone who has worked at a startup before will tell you that the growth stage is hard; more people means more complexity and risks for the business. Product Ops can alleviate these problems by focusing on the efficiency and scalability of the Product team.

While different models have emerged that companies can consider adopting, it’s crucial to understand what works best for your organization. The three most common models are centralized, embedded, and federated.

Centralized

A standalone team that supports multiple product teams and may have fewer people responsible for ProdOps.
This model is most suitable for large organizations with multiple product teams, where there is a need to standardize processes across teams and improve collaboration across departments.
The centralized team provides a framework for other teams to follow, such as product development processes, product launch procedures, and analytics methodologies.

Embedded

Integrated into each product team. In this decentralized model, each product team has its ProdOps function, responsible for that team’s unique needs.
This model is most suitable for smaller teams or startups where the product’s unique nature and culture require a tailored approach.
This model works well if there is tight alignment with product managers and/or strategy, or where there are overworked teams in need of improved collaboration across product development.

Federated

A hybrid that combines the centralized and decentralized models, where ProdOps acts as a hub that facilitates cross-functional collaboration.
There is a central ProdOps function that supports different product teams, providing support in standardizing processes and tools. While the decentralized teams manage the unique needs of their products.
This model is most suitable for medium-sized organizations with multiple product teams.

Within these models, the makeup of the function can also vary, comprising any combination of generalists and/or specialists.

Generalists

Expected to do any work needed across the product lifecycle.
This is suitable for larger teams to avoid duplicative work or organizations striving towards very specific goals.

Specialists

Focus on particular pillars, tools, or customer needs.
This is good for smaller teams where people need to swarm on problems and/or flexibility to chase after different problems as the landscape changes.

ProdOps work can take three different shapes in terms of operating principles: enabling, execution, and coaching.

Enabling

Creating the infrastructure to help others do their jobs better.
Enabling work focuses on reducing friction for product managers to work more effectively.
By creating tools and processes, one can reduce the amount of effort a product manager needs to move development forward.
Enabling is good for creating a broad impact with fewer people and prioritizing process improvement

Execution

Doing the operational work for others to free up their time.
If the product manager could use a partner to get more done, the execution model might make the most sense.
In these organizations there can be a risk that the line between ProdOps and product management begins to blur, and a product operations function might start to look more like a business analyst role.
Execution is good for complex organizations with overworked teams and adds capacity to the team.

Coaching

Teaching others the processes and procedures to do their work.
Organizations that need more standardization lean towards the coaching model.
Coaching is good for organizations that have hired more junior people and have the most reach per person.

Unfortunately, there is no perfect model or blueprint for implementing product operations that fits all product teams. What works for one company may not work for another. You have to consider factors like the size of your team, the structure of the product org (i.e. are they aligned by product, technical domain, segment, or customer journey), the type of problems you need to solve, the maturity of the product discipline, the expectations and demands of your stakeholders, and so on.

Regardless of the model, it’s essential to clearly understand the roles, responsibilities, and goals of the product operations function. We will explore that more in Part 2 of this series.