Category: Agile Delivery

My posts on other websites

This is a page of my posts featured on other websites. They cover topics across product management, delivery, transformation, and engineering.

Implementing Product Operations in Your Organisation

Introduction:

Welcome to Part 3 of my series on Product Operations. In the previous parts, we have delved into the concept, benefits, challenges, and real-world applications of Product Operations (ProductOps). In this final instalment, I’ll provide practical advice on implementing ProductOps in your organisation. If you’ve been following along, have any questions, or want to share your experiences, please don’t hesitate to contact me at mike@mike-dixon.com.

How to Implement Product Operations:

The first step towards implementing ProductOps in your organisation is understanding your current product management processes and workflows. This involves auditing your current tools, technologies, and methodologies to identify gaps and areas for improvement.

Once you understand your current state, you can start planning your ProductOps implementation. This typically involves the following steps:

  1. Define your objectives and KPIs: Before implementing ProductOps, you should clearly understand what you hope to achieve. This could be anything from improving efficiency and consistency to enhancing collaboration and data-driven decision-making.
  1. Assemble your ProductOps team: A successful ProductOps function requires a cross-functional team with diverse skills. This includes operational skills, technical expertise, and a deep understanding of product management. Business Analysts often make great ProductOps people as they understand processes, business value, are great communicators and love solving problems with pragmatism.
  1. Standardise processes and procedures: ProductOps involves creating standardised processes and procedures that can be used across all your products. This includes everything from product planning and prioritisation to communication and collaboration.
  1. Implement tools and technologies: ProductOps teams often manage the tools and technologies used by product teams. This might involve selecting and implementing new tools or optimising existing ones.
  1. Measure and optimise: After implementing ProductOps, it’s important to continually measure performance against your KPIs and look for opportunities to optimise. This could involve refining your processes, upskilling your team, or investing in new technologies.

Conclusion:

Implementing Product Operations can be complex, but the benefits make it worthwhile. By implementing ProductOps, organisations can drive efficiency and consistency, enable data-driven decision-making, and free up Product Managers to focus on strategic, higher-value activities.

Remember, ProductOps is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and the best approach will vary depending on your organisation’s unique needs and circumstances. Be prepared to adapt and evolve your approach as you go.

That concludes our series on Product Operations. I hope you’ve found it informative and insightful. As always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback, so please don’t hesitate to contact me at mike@mike-dixon.com.

The Role of Product Operations in the Real World

Introduction:

Welcome to Part 2 of my series on Product Operations. In the first part, I explored the concept of Product Operations (ProductOps) and its potential benefits and challenges. We also looked at which types of organisations can get the most value from implementing a ProductOps function.

In this part, I will delve into real-world applications of Product Operations, illustrating how it works in practice and its impacts on Product Management and the wider organisation. If you are a Product Operations specialist or your organisation has implemented ProductOps, I’d love to hear about your experiences. Please feel free to get in touch with me at mike@mike-dixon.com.

Real-World Applications of Product Operations:

Having spoken to Product Operations leaders across Europe, it is clear that there is a definitive need for this new strategic function. There is more pressure than ever for Product Managers and technology teams to be focused on constantly delivering value.

To illustrate the real-world applications of Product Operations, let’s consider an example of a fast-growing tech company with a diverse product portfolio. This company has a team of Product Managers overwhelmed with operational tasks, such as defining processes, managing tools and technologies, and facilitating communication and collaboration.

In this scenario, implementing a ProductOps function can significantly ease the burden on Product Managers. A dedicated Product Operations team can take over operational tasks, allowing Product Managers to focus on higher-value activities, like strategic planning, innovation, and driving customer value.

This team would work closely with Product Managers and other cross-functional teams, identifying areas for improvement, driving efficiencies, and helping to streamline workflows. They would also be critical in driving data-driven decision-making, ensuring product decisions are grounded in solid, reliable data.

Moreover, the Product Operations team would work to standardise organisational processes and procedures, ensuring consistency and efficiency. This standardisation is particularly valuable in a company with a diverse product portfolio, where consistency in process and procedure can lead to inefficiencies and misunderstandings.

The team would also manage the tools and technologies used by Product Managers, ensuring they have the resources they need to do their jobs effectively.

The Impact of Product Operations:

Implementing a dedicated ProductOps function can have far-reaching impacts across an organisation.

Firstly, it allows Product Managers to focus on their roles’ strategic, higher-value aspects, potentially leading to increased innovation and more customer-centric product development.

Secondly, a dedicated ProductOps function can drive efficiencies across the organisation, particularly in companies with diverse product portfolios. By standardising processes and procedures, ensuring efficient communication and collaboration, and driving data-driven decision-making, ProductOps can reduce inefficiencies and optimise workflows.

Lastly, ProductOps can foster a culture of continuous improvement within an organisation. By constantly looking for ways to improve and streamline workflows, ProductOps encourages everyone in the organisation to think about how they can work more effectively and efficiently.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of this series, where I will explore how to implement Product Operations in your organisation.

How Continuous Planning Revolutionises Product Delivery

Introduction

Traditional project management often relies on planning as a static map, complete with fixed dates to guide a team’s journey. In contrast, a modern, collaborative approach offers dynamic planning, allowing teams to navigate the constantly changing landscape of project delivery. This article explores why this flexible style trumps the limitations of traditional planning models.

The Pitfalls of Fixed Dates in Traditional Planning

Traditional planning tends to hinge on establishing immutable deadlines. While structured, this approach often leaves teams scrambling when faced with unexpected changes, causing missed deadlines and eroding trust between teams, leadership, and the wider business.

A Dynamic Approach: Continuous Planning

Planning evolves from a static page into a navigational exercise in a modern approach. Teams engage in ongoing adjustments throughout the project’s lifecycle, focusing less on specific end dates and more on the journey’s nuances.

Benefits of Continuous Planning

  1. Adaptability: Teams can adjust to shifting market conditions or unforeseen challenges.
  2. Risk Mitigation: Continuous updates to the plan allow for early identification and mitigation of risks.
  3. Clear Pathway: This ensures that teams remain aligned and focused, providing the flexibility to pivot when necessary.
  4. Focused Execution: Teams can zero in on the most impactful areas, ensuring their efforts are optimally directed.
  5. Understanding Dependencies: Ongoing planning illuminates dependencies, allowing for coordinated action.
  6. Transparency: Regular planning updates give stakeholders an accurate view of the project’s status, aiding more informed decision-making.

Real-world Example: The Ripple Effects of a Failed Product Launch

Traditional methods might initially seem appealing in a complex product launch, particularly to executives. A rigid roadmap with fixed deadlines offers the illusion of control and predictability, allowing other parts of the business to align their activities and budgets around those dates. However, this rigidity often turns into a liability.

When the roadmap fails to adapt to changing market demands or technical challenges, missed deadlines can have ripple effects far beyond the project team. These failures can disrupt other departments’ plans, affect cash flows, and even impact shareholder confidence if planned revenues don’t materialise. What was initially seen as a tool for stability can quickly become a significant source of instability across the organisation.

Building Confidence in Dates

Continuous planning doesn’t mean avoiding commitments to deadlines. Instead, it cultivates confidence in those dates, allowing for advanced notice of potential delays and making course corrections as needed. This ensures that trust remains intact, sidestepping the element of surprise and disappointment.

Leadership’s Role: Steering the Ship and Guiding the Fleet

In the modern approach to planning, leadership takes on an expanded role. Leaders are not just directing their teams but also navigating alongside steering committees (Steercos), who may be new to this flexible way of working.

Strategies for Leaders in Supporting Their Teams

Leaders must create the right conditions for their teams to succeed in navigating their journey. Here are a few strategies that Leaders can draw upon to support this effort.

  1. Facilitate Open Communication: Create forums for regular updates, ensuring transparent, two-way communication between all involved.
  2. Empower Teams: Delegate decision-making to those closest to the work, fostering agility and confidence.
  3. Iterative Learning: Advocate for a culture where lessons are continuously drawn, and adjustments are made in real time.
  4. Dynamic Team Allocation: Balance long-term objectives with the flexibility to reassign team members and budget quickly in response to changes, prioritising critical areas.
  5. Outcome Alignment: Ensure that the teams and the Steercos are aligned on the outcomes, reducing the likelihood of misunderstandings and costly shifts in direction.
  6. Engage Stakeholders: Regularly update stakeholders, including steering committees, to maintain alignment on strategy and progress.

How Leaders Can Engage With Their Peers and Steering Committees (Steercos)

Leaders not only need to support their teams, they also need to educate and include their peers and internal functions like Steering Committees to ensure that they are also taken on this journey and understand how to best adapt to this new way of working.

Here are some suggestions on some approaches that could be taken.

  1. Education: Educate Steercos on the benefits of a modern, dynamic approach through workshops or case studies.
  2. Inclusion: Make them part of the decision-making process, not just an oversight body.
  3. Transparency: Share regular and clear updates, demonstrating that a flexible approach doesn’t lack accountability.
  4. Collaborative Decision-Making: Give them a seat at the table when significant project decisions are made.
  5. Celebrate Milestones: Acknowledge achievements, both big and small, showcasing the value of the modern approach.

Conclusion

This modern approach to continuous planning offers a dynamic, responsive, and more trustworthy framework, especially suited for today’s complex, fast-paced projects. This planning style is not an isolated activity but an integral part of the project lifecycle, supplying teams with the flexibility and confidence they need for successful delivery.

By shifting from a static, date-centric model to a more dynamic, adaptive methodology, teams, leaders, and businesses stand to gain more than just completed projects—they build a foundation of trust and flexibility that benefits the entire organisation.