The ultimate guide to product operations | Melissa Perri and Denise Tilles

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

November 16, 2023

Duration

1h 19m

Channel

Lenny's Podcast

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

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

— This entire episode is brought to you by Jira Product Discovery—Atlassian’s new prioritization and roadmapping tool built for product teams: https://atlassian.com/lenny/?utm_source=lennypodcast&utm_medium=paid-audio&utm_campaign=fy24q1-jpd-imc Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-product-operations-melissa-perri-and-denise-tilles/#transcript Where to find Melissa Perri:

• X: https://twitter.com/lissijean
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissajeanperri/
• Website: https://produxlabs.com/

Where to find Denise Tilles:

• X: https://twitter.com/dtilles
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisetilles/
• Website: https://www.denisetilles.com

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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 Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Melissa Perri

  guest

• Lenny Rachitsky

  host

• Denise Tilles

  guest

• Guest

  guest

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lenny's Podcast, featuring Melissa Perri and Lenny Rachitsky, The ultimate guide to product operations | Melissa Perri and Denise Tilles explores why Product Operations Is Transforming How Companies Build Products At Scale Melissa Perri and Denise Tilles break down the fast‑emerging discipline of product operations and why it has exploded across modern product-led companies. They argue that product ops exists to free product managers and leaders from operational drag—data wrangling, process chaos, and ad-hoc research—so they can focus on strategy and outcomes. The role is organized around three pillars: business & data insights, customer & market insights, and product processes & practices, with emphasis shifting by company stage. They share how to know when you need product ops, how to hire and structure it, how it differs from product and project management, and case studies from companies like Uber, Amplitude, and Athenahealth.

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