Katie Cubillas

In taking an end-to-end business leadership approach to this role, it opens up multiple career paths. For example- if your goal is to become a product GM, this is well aligned. If your ambition is to be a future COO, I think this is a great role to dig into. I think it's also a great extension to leadership roles in customer success and GTM as well. I definitely see it as a choose your own adventure skillset.

30: listen, learn, pull data, conduct cross-dept & key stakeholder interviews. Immediately get with finance to understand the product business model & resourcing. 

60: Propose high / medium / low plans in alignment with revenue / customer acquisition targets. Get approvals across key stakeholders. 

90: Start phased build against proposed plans. Run internal campaign across key leaders / stakeholders to socialize plan, timelines, feedback loops.

I've noticed it's pretty common that this role can be overlooked / under resourced. Instead, companies will rely on product ops being addressed via a team effort between Product Market & Product Management. I tend to think every meaningful product within a company should be set up as a 'mini company' within the parent company. In this way, I'd see prod ops more widely understood as a COO of a specific product / set of products.

It all depends on the size of the product and requirements scope. I tend to see this role as a right-hand to product VPs / GMs, so oversight of the product portfolio within that construct often determines the scope for the prod ops person. 

Alternativley, I've also seen the role built out in a way that's similar to product marketing. 

Data teams are critical partners to product ops. I've tended to structure product operations as the owners of the plan, strategies, operations, outcomes. We partner with data teams to inform strategies, measure ops effectiveness and report on growth / trends. As part of a product resourcing plan, having data team alignment / designation is critical.