AMA: Realtor.com Sr. Director, Product Operations, Casey Flinn on Product Operations

This is such a new field I think we are all still trying to figure it out together. However ... Product Ops should be a feeder role into other product roles like Product Manager. There are so many barriers to entry into PM roles, If done right Product Ops can be a great bridge into Associate PMs. Product ops can help people develop the right mindset, learn through observation, apply product thinking (e.g., forming and testing hypotheses based on data) to Product Ops work, and show off their pote ...Read More

I’m going to sound like a broken record, but we should really be looking at Product Ops as a way to force multiply the work of our teams vs. carving out responsibilities from other roles and giving them to Product Ops. If you don’t have any Product Marketing Managers (PMM), maybe you would ask Product Ops to take on some PMM functions (like GTM), but you should be asking why we aren’t hiring PMMs if that’s the case :) Ok so then what does PMM "generally" do: Go-to-market (GTM) / Sales Enablement ...Read More

I love this question because I have been asking people this same one for ever since I started in Product roles :) It’s also an exhausting question because roadmaps and their processes are so highly tuned to the org/company itself that when we share these with each other it’s hard to not get lost in the "how will this work for me/us?" Here is what’s important in this area IMHO: Process: Think, plan, and tell the story around outcomes not features I’m currently working to drive proficiency and ski ...Read More

When I started Product Ops here at realtor.com I started with mission, principles, and northstar metric: Mission: Help level and clear the field on which our people and teams play, so you can do the best work of your career, in a community you love, and positively impact the lives of our users Principles People are our foundation Create the conditions for you to do your best work, grow and find success in your role, and build an enduringly great community of Products People Raise as many boats a ...Read More

I look at this question as more "when is my org ready for Product Ops" vs "what size should it be" :) Here are some signals for "ready" that I would use: You are probably struggling to scale the org. You have great people on the team but it’s gotten so big and complex that it’s just getting harder and harder to work and impacting the team. Your org structure might be more vertically aligned and working well in those structures, but there is nobody looking at the horizontal aspects of the org wit ...Read More

I strongly recommend you join groups, reach out to other Product Ops folks in LinkedIn and ask to learn more. Nobody really has this role canonized, in fact there are multiple versions of what Product Ops could be. We are kind of in this "norming" phase of Product Ops so its important that you form a clear point of view of your own of what your company needs (or thinks they need :) ) so that you can craft the right flavor of Product Ops. I have found some quality conversations / ideas via intera ...Read More

Ideally, I would like to hire a Senior Product Manager/Designer/Marketer etc. who is looking to take their skills and do something new/different with their career. I say this because these roles nurture things like: Design Thinking Using data to build and test hypotheses  Ability to break big things into simple, lovable, complete solutions where we can ship small and learn along the way Desire and track record to deliver outcomes  Appreciates process, but understands that not every problem needs ...Read More