Process People Continued

Marty Cagan follows up on his earlier critique of 'process people' hijacking product ops. He notes that 'product ops' has no settled definition, and he has identified at least six different versions in his work with more than a hundred companies. He focuses on one common version: dedicating people to improve how product managers work, through standard tools, methods, training, and onboarding. He argues that the people doing this work should be strong product practitioners, typically principal product managers, rather than Agile Coaches or project managers who lack real product experience. The core point is that the people setting the bar for the broader organization should be the best product people available.

01Key takeaways

• Ask how your company defines product ops before debating whether it helps or hurts, since the term has many meanings.
• Consolidating PM tooling, training, and onboarding can pay off at larger companies, but smaller ones usually handle it through PM managers.
• Staff the function with people who have real product experience, such as principal product managers, not only process specialists.
• Check the first-hand product background of anyone shaping how PMs work, since titles like Agile Coach don't guarantee it.
• Decide two things explicitly: how to define product ops and who you hire to run it.

02Key sections

Why the follow-up

Readers agreed with the earlier warning but were confused, partly because the article covered too many points and partly because 'product ops' means different things to different people.

Many definitions of product ops

Cagan has identified at least six distinct definitions, often mixed within a company, and says the term is vague enough that people can shape it to their own purposes.

Improving PM productivity

One common definition is consolidating work on the tools, practices, training, and onboarding of product managers, which makes sense mainly at larger companies with economies of scale.

Principal PMs as the natural owners

Strong companies usually assign this to principal product managers, senior individual contributors who love the craft and are respected for coaching others.

The 'process people' problem

Many companies instead staff this function with Agile Coaches or project and program managers who often lack hands-on product experience, which is the real concern.

03From the post

“A partnership dedicated to teaching best practices to product teams and product leaders”

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.