In this economy?! Why you need to invest in Product Operations
Current state
With layoffs happening at tech companies across the US many of us are wondering - is my job next?
Folks are speculating why these mass layoffs are happening and seem to be unique to the tech industry. Forbes says inflation rates, bloated payrolls due to pandemic over-hiring, a potential looming recession, and investor pressure to scale back expenses are the root causes of the mass layoffs.
Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, hypothesises it’s due to copycat behaviour. Whatever the reason, it feels as though no one is safe and with Product Operations being so new at many companies it’s possible that companies haven’t realised the true potential of this function.
While we don't know if any of our roles are truly safe, I’d like to make a case for keeping Product Operations and if you don’t have the function, why your company should invest in ProdOps.
What is ProdOps
Product Operations is a hot topic in the world of Product these days. Pendo describes Product Operations as “an operational function that optimizes the intersection of product, engineering, and customer success.” It supports the R&D team and their go-to-market counterparts to improve alignment, communications, and processes around the product and Melissa Perri has described Product operations as “the fuel for winning product strategies.”
ProdOps can look different across companies but the common theme is we’re here to improve company processes.
The importance of Product Operations
Turns out humans aren’t the only ones who think this role is significant. I asked ChatGPT if Product Ops is critical and here’s what it said -
Product Ops has gained significant importance in recent years because of its ability to bridge the gap between product management, engineering, and other departments involved in delivering a product or service.
I have to agree with the bots on this one.
In her article “Why Your Rapidly Growing Company Needs a Good Operations Team” Kaelan Forgues states operations people “know how your business operates to the core, what your capabilities are…and attempt to predict the unpredictable and if [we] cannot, to be strategically reactive to changing contexts.”
Product Operations does just that for the Product organisation which in turn helps the business.
While Product Operations is critical at any company, I think companies in hyper growth states or those looking to scale their current business will benefit the most from ProdOps. Scaling a company is no easy feat - as a company grows, they launch “more products and these products take on more features” and eventually “systems and processes become too much for product managers to maintain.”
This is where Product Operations comes in. When set up effectively, product operations can help streamline processes, increase efficiency, free up Product Managers time, and ensure your Product organisation is set to scale successfully. Not only that, but Product Ops can help your company reduce costs and increase profitability, a priority for companies in 2023.
How Product Operations can increase profitability
Faster time to market
Companies need to bring new products to market quickly. ProdOps “maps existing flows and bottlenecks and points out quick solutions that will increase efficiency and automation” enabling teams to improve their product development process and get products to market faster. This saves Product and Engineering teams time, resources, and money.
Alignment
A common complaint I hear from companies is their teams are not aligned to the Product roadmap (or even know that one exists).
Product Operations is a highly cross-functional role and is often one that ensures the Product roadmap is up to date for the business. Part of ensuring the roadmap is updated is communicating the roadmap to our cross functional partners.
Product Ops can help here by standardising the roadmap process, streamlining communication between Product and our internal partners, and creating artefacts that anyone from the business can rely on.
With a standardised roadmap process, all departments will be able to give their input and feedback. This results in the company being bought into the product roadmap and being able to communicate the priorities to their teams. Sales folks will know what features to push during customer calls and Customer Success will be able to identify opportunities to increase retention. For Product and Engineering, this means less wasted efforts on projects that don’t serve the overall business goals. Increased alignment and focused efforts across the organisation lead to improved products and profits.
Processes and Best Practices
You’ve heard me say this already but a core part of Product Operations is understanding Product processes and finding ways to improve and maintain them.
This can look like putting an automated process in place that takes work off the Product Manager's plate, freeing them up to focus on product strategy. Or, it can look like removing a process that is no longer serving the business.
ProdOps is here to enable the Product team, specifically the Product Managers, to do their jobs with minimal interference. One thing Product Managers do not have is time and as the old saying goes, time is money.
I liked the way Christine Itawru described her goal at Pendo - to eventually set up the Product Operations function so well that she is no longer needed. While the point of writing this is to advocate for product operations, the true role of product operations is to find ways to make things better. Then, we need to get out of the way.
TL;DR
Just do it! To succeed in the current economic climate, companies must focus on Product Operations. A Product Operations team can increase the efficiency and profitability of your company through focusing on helping the Product team with a quicker time to market, roadmap visibility, communicating cross-functionally, and improving processes.
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