Melissa Perri is the CEO of Produx Labs, a product management training organization; author of the seminal PM book The Build Trap; and a former Harvard Business School professor of product management. Denise Tilles is the CPO at Grocket, Melissa’s colleague at Produx Labs, and a seasoned product leader with over a decade of experience. Together they authored the new book Product Operations: How successful companies build better products at scale. In today’s episode, they share insights, strategies, and real-world experiences to master all things product ops. We discuss:
• What exactly product operations is
• The three pillars of the product ops role
• The biggest benefits of adding product ops to your organization
• Which tasks product managers should offload to product ops and which they need to own
• How to help PMs embrace the value of product ops
• Examples of companies that have implemented product ops well
• Who and how to hire for this role
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This entire episode is brought to you by Jira Product Discovery—Atlassian’s new prioritization and roadmapping tool built for product teams
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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-product-operations-melissa-perri-and-denise-tilles/#transcript
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Where to find Melissa Perri:
• X: https://twitter.com/lissijean
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissajeanperri/
• Website: https://produxlabs.com/
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Where to find Denise Tilles:
• X: https://twitter.com/dtilles
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisetilles/
• Website: https://www.denisetilles.com
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Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) About our guests, Melissa Perri and Denise Tilles
(03:46) How common is the product operations role?
(07:41) The benefits of having a product ops person in your organization
(09:16) How to help PMs embrace the value of product ops
(11:44) The three pillars of the product ops role
(15:25) How user research fits in
(18:35) Why product ops will be an essential role for product managers to thrive
(24:24) Which tasks product managers should offload to product ops and which they need to own
(28:58) Project management vs. product ops
(29:44) The jobs of a product ops person
(37:38) Why the product ops role will never become obsolete
(39:31) How many product ops people you need
(45:13) First steps in building out a product ops team
(47:06) What to look for in your first hire
(51:11) Key skills needed for a product ops person
(57:29) Who product ops should report to
(59:50) An example of rolling out product ops at Athena Health
(1:09:35) Lightning round
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Referenced:
• Product Operations: How successful companies build better products at scale: https://www.productoperations.com/
• Produx Labs: https://produxlabs.com
• How to create a winning product strategy | Melissa Perri: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-create-a-winning-product-strategy-melissa-perri/
• Blake Samic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakesamic/
• Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value: https://www.amazon.com/Escaping-Build-Trap-Effective-Management/dp/149197379X
• Athena Health: https://www.athenahealth.com/
• Pendo: https://www.pendo.io/
• PopSQL: https://popsql.com/
• Understanding the role of product ops | Christine Itwaru (Pendo): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/understanding-the-role-of-product-ops-christine-itwaru-pendo/
• Doodle: https://doodle.com/en/
• Stephanie Leue on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-leue/
• Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira
• Dovetail: https://dovetail.com/
• Looker: https://cloud.google.com/looker/
• Brian Bhuta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianbhuta/
• How to sell your ideas and rise within your company | Casey Winters, Eventbrite: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-sell-your-ideas-and-rise-within-your-company-casey-winters-eventbrite/
• Thinking beyond frameworks | Casey Winters (Pinterest, Eventbrite, Airbnb, Tinder, Canva, Reddit, Grubhub): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/thinking-beyond-frameworks-casey-winters-pinterest-eventbrite-airbnb-tinder-canva-reddit-grubhub/
• Shared services model: https://www.gartner.com/en/finance/insights/shared-services-model
• Shintaro Matsui on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smatsui/
• Tableau: https://www.tableau.com/
• Jen Cardello on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jencardello/
• Tim Davenport on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-davenport-28249b9/
• Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral: https://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Genius-Rivalry-Delusion-Billion-Dollar/dp/0593299752
• The Art of Action: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Action-10th-Anniversary/dp/1529376963
• Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value: https://www.amazon.com/Continuous-Discovery-Habits-Discover-Products/dp/1736633309
• Deutschland89 on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/deutschland-89-a4cf05f7-b4f2-44c7-84a1-4034671944b9
• The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81414665
• Love Is Blind on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80996601
• The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80189221
• Dragonboat: https://dragonboat.io/solution/product-operations/
• Vistaly: https://www.vistaly.com/
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.