Product Collective - ✔ Benefits of Product Ops

Is product operations relevant for you?

It seems like every time a new trend pops up in the world of product, product people rush to jump on the bandwagon if they can’t explain why. It’s quite possible that the product operations role is one such trend. But this trend makes sense in certain circumstances - especially if your organization is scaling your product function. 

What is product operations? Increasingly, product teams at large or fast-moving companies are inundated with more data, tools, and user feedback than they can confidently and consistently manage on their own. Mike Flanagan explains product operations and how it eases this pain point by overseeing all tools, data, and experimentation for the product team. As a result, product teams can spend more of their time gleaning valuable insights on product functionality from end users and actually helping to build the product.
(via @LogRocket)

Is product operations right for you? If your primary goal is to build a product-led organization, you need to understand how the product operations (product ops) role relates to achieving that goal. Christine Itwaru reveals how product ops emerged at Pendo, the importance of the role in the product management space, and the future of product ops today.
(via @productled)

Continues below...

Keep Going. Don't Give Up.

Last week was a big week for us at Product Collective. We put INDUSTRY on in-person for the first time since 2019. But it was a big week for me, personally, too.

A few weeks back, I had challenged myself to bike the entire Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail – a multi-use trail that follows part of the former route of the Ohio & Erie Canal in Northeast Ohio. From one end in downtown Cleveland, Ohio to the other in a small town in Dover, Ohio – the trail runs just over 90 miles long. And I was attempting to bike the entire thing on a solo ride. 

For an avid cyclist, this is probably nothing more than a fun half-day adventure. However, I am not an avid cyclist. I’ve never gone on a ride more than 25 miles in one trip (and that was years ago!). I enjoy riding my bike in the park recreationally, but that’s the extent of my experience.

Even still, last Friday at 9:45am – I started my ride out of Downtown Cleveland on the towpath – partly excited and partly scared, if I’m being honest. Soon after starting, I found a crumpled up hand-written note from my 10-year old son tossed in my bag, which simply read, “Keep Going, Don’t Give Up.”

Just five small words. But that note kept me motivated the entire ride. And sure enough, about ten hours later, I found myself at the very end of the Towpath. (Well, close to the end – it turned out that the Towpath actually closed off at Mile 75 that day). 

We all have our own journeys, whether in product or in life. And oftentimes, we find ourselves on journeys where we’re also partly excited, but also partly scared… not knowing if or how we’ll make it to the end. So, let me be the one to put a note in your bag. The words will be the same one my son scribbled. 

Keep Going. Don’t Give Up.

9 Key responsibilities of product operations. Product operations, or prod ops, is an emerging discipline designed to help product teams operate as effectively as possible. The role builds a foundation of excellence through metrics, infrastructure, business processes, best practices, budgeting, and reporting. The ProductPlan team explains when done right, prod ops has the power to transform the efficiency of the entire product team by streamlining critical routine tasks and facilitating better communication across the whole organization. 
(via @productplan)

Do you need product operations? Product managers compile user data, customer feedback, industry trends, and business goals to determine their product’s features and direction. As a company launches more products and these products take on more features, systems and processes become too much for product managers to maintain. This is where the product operations role comes into play. Jamie Juviler explores the role of product operations within the product team and company at large, including what tasks they perform, why they’re important for growing companies, and what makes the role different from a product manager.
(via @HubSpot)

Product ops overview. Marty Cagan has encountered at least six distinct definitions of product operations, many of which he considers unhelpful. Marty wants to encourage companies to be wary of the unhelpful definitions and to consider embracing what he considers a valuable and helpful definition of product ops. 
(via @officialsvpg)

How to Use Design Thinking as a Product Manager

It can be easy for Product Managers to hear the phrase "Design Thinking" — and assume that it's something that ought to be reserved for our colleagues working in design. But the reality is that even Product Managers who wouldn't describe themselves as "Designers" could really benefit from embracing Design Thinking. In this conversation, we'll dig into on why this is and how Product Managers can use Design Thinking for the benefit of themselves and their teams. Plus, you'll have a chance to ask questions of your own!

How delighting customers can go awry and what to do instead

We’ve learned that the key to building successful products is to iterate quickly and see what delights customers. Unfortunately, it turns out that chasing customer delight can lead to common product diseases and doesn’t guarantee a successful product.
In this discussion, the author of Radical Product Thinking will share concrete examples to illustrate how delighting customers can go awry and a radical approach to turn things around. Plus, you'll have a chance to ask questions of your own as well.

1. A newsletter each and every Friday centered around an important product topic, like roadmapping, strategy, and analytics.
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3. Plus, invitations to exclusive video chats, special member privileges at the conferences we hold in the United States and Europe, and more!