Process People

Marty Cagan argues that product organizations contain three kinds of contributors rather than two: makers (designers, engineers, researchers), managers, and a growing group he calls process people. Process roles like Product Owner and product ops are not inherently bad, but they can become ends in themselves and drift away from serving customers. Cagan contends these roles often hurt more than help, because they are frequently filled by people without strong maker or manager experience, sometimes substitute for managers who fail to coach, and standardize processes that fit most teams poorly. He concludes that strong product companies scale through capable leaders, especially managers who coach makers, and that leaders should weigh each process hire against funding another maker or manager.

01Key takeaways

• Treat process roles as a deliberate tradeoff: every process hire is a position not spent on a maker or manager.
• Check whether a process hire is compensating for managers who are not coaching or developing their people, and fix the managers first.
• Be skeptical of standardized processes across large organizations, since one process rarely fits most teams.
• Scale your product organization primarily by developing strong product leaders and managers rather than by adding process layers.
• Keep process in service of customers; watch for signs that the process has become the goal.

02Key sections

Makers, managers, and the third type

Cagan splits product contributors into makers and managers, notes the ambiguous place of product managers, and introduces process people as a rising third category focused on process rather than product or people.

The danger of process

Citing Jeff Bezos, Cagan warns that good process can become the goal itself, a risk that grows in large organizations.

Why process people often cause harm

He points to inexperience in maker or manager roles, vendor targeting, the use of process roles to cover for weak managers, and the fanaticism that surrounds favored methods.

Product ops and the scaling debate

Cagan describes product ops, often defined as a team supplying process, tools and methods, as a misguided route to scale compared with scaling leaders.

What leaders should do

He advises leaders to weigh their mix of makers, managers and process people carefully, treating each process hire as a choice against another maker or manager.

03From the post

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

04Frameworks mentioned

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