AMA: OEConnection Head of Global Product Operations, Casey Flinn on Product Operations

You will hear me talk about running Product Operations like a product team, and this is another example. Is it valuable? I need to have 100% clarity on the problem/need our product teams are facing. It cant just be "better instrumentation" I need to understand what specific decisions they cant make because of data gaps because that is going to be my success criteria. I frame the decision to invest in tools as being able to come back to the org and say "you cited these 3 specific problems/needs, ...Read More

More often than not, people believe they're collaborating when they're actually just cooperating or coordinating. Here are two simple resources to illustrate what I mean: https://tinyurl.com/2s3nfdfw https://tinyurl.com/ymwa33fr Product Operations can do two very intentional and powerful things with this knowledge. First, Product Operations can play the "coach" role here and help teams recognize that their behaviors are misaligned with their desired outcomes and show that cooperation, coordinati ...Read More

I run the Product Operations team like a product team by maintaining a deep focus on continuous discovery habits. Everyone on the team, including myself, conducts weekly calls with our customers (product managers, owners, and designers) to learn what we don't know. These insights fuel how we frame problems and guide our roadmaps. While the calls focus on individual learning, we meet monthly to share and discuss what we've discovered. This helps refine our thinking and reinforces a learning cultu ...Read More