Who is the Product Operations Manager?

In a nutshell, the product operations manager supports the product team. They enable product managers to focus on the product and their core tasks and responsibilities. While product management focuses on the customer, the product operations manager’s customer is the product team. So, the product operations manager’s responsibilities fall into four broad categories.

• Implementing or optimizing systems and processes
• Ensuring timely, audience-appropriate communication
• Analyzing, synthesizing, and automating data created or used by product management
• Offloading non-core product management tasks

To understand where product operations add value, think about everything required to maintain a well-connected and smoothly running product team that isn’t product management. In addition, product operations can take on many ancillary responsibilities that don’t need a product manager.

For example, product managers must translate customer insights and prioritize them in the product roadmap. However, myriad supporting tasks precede this step, such as sourcing and categorizing customer data and insights. When product operations managers handle this important paperwork, product managers have the information they need to prioritize and build a roadmap.

Implementing or Optimizing Systems and Processes

Even the best systems and processes need a champion to ensure they run smoothly. Processes may work well with one team, but others do things slightly differently. These differences scuttle attempts to create a consistent view into how things are progressing.

Or perhaps support, sales, or marketing staff struggle to interface with product team members effectively. A product operations manager can optimize the product team’s systems and processes. And in doing so, create sustainable ways of engaging with the product team. And when your organization grows rapidly or changes its organizational structure, you likely need to develop and document your processes so new colleagues can understand how to use them or re-engineer them to reflect your current organizational reality.

Ultimately, the product team is the arbiter of the requirements for each process or system. As the customer to product operations, they have the final approval of a new process or system.

The product operations manager must listen closely and present the product team with system and process options. Once implemented, they own the selected option. As an owner, they document the process and train colleagues to use the process correctly. They are in charge of ensuring everything runs smoothly, making adjustments as needed or when requested by the product team.

Some systems and process activities include:

• Identifying areas where team effort doesn’t align with the core strategy
• Defining, documenting, and maintaining release processes
• Building (or re-engineering) processes for repeatable, critical tasks
• Identifying product feedback loops within the organization and working with stakeholders to close those loops with new routines
• Scaling product knowledge across the organization
• Developing and documenting the norms and standards for tool use within product management

Ensuring Timely, Audience-Appropriate Communication

Effective communication is essential for product teams and another area where product operation adds value. After setting all current and new processes, the product operations manager oversees its consistent usage. When done right, the team consistently follows proper cadences and schedules. And communication is optimized for each audience.

The product operations manager also tailors content for each meeting based on attendees’ seniority and functional roles. When done well, The correct information gets to the right people with enough context and time for efficient decision-making. Some of this work bleeds into systems and processes. For example, ensuring optimal communication involves automating some reporting and building reusable communication vehicles that clarify when and how each stakeholder can take action.

Product operations managers filling this role serve as the connective tissue of the team. The product operations manager enables each organ within the product team to do its job. They hold everything together so the organs can work in harmony.

In this way, product operations might also act as a traffic cop. They help other parts of the organization determine the best way to interface with the product team efficiently. Some responsibilities that fall into communications include:

• Communicating product changes
• Helping shape communication about product strategy for each audience and class of internal stakeholders
• Coordinating with product marketing and sales
• Acting as an intermediary between front-line support and engineering
• Coordinating critical aspects of product launch