PRODUCTHEAD: Tharin × Cutler on product operating models

talk show product manager #

every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to

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tl;dr

Define in an operating model team sizes, roles, and responsibilities

Reduce single points of failure and promote shared accountability

Establish a shared language around team and domain evolution

Stay firm on the chosen operating model and evaluate it within a specific timeframe

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hello

I was chuffed to bits by a recent recommendation of my work given by a client. I had spent a few days embedded with CPO Dan Williams at Cambridge Intelligence to review how his people, products and processes were working, then compiled a report with suggested improvements and next steps. You can read his recommendation and find out more about my people, product and process review for yourself.

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Some of the best interviews I watch or listen to are between friends. Friends can be comfortable challenging or disagreeing with one another, safe in the knowledge that they’ll still be on good terms after. The chats have a different energy to those where the interviewer and interviewee maintain a degree of respectful distance or are a little guarded with each other.

I watched Leah Tharin and John Cutler chatting about operating models in SaaS companies. Each is a big-brained systems thinker and it’s clear they ‘get’ each other. Because of this they can dive straight into the nitty-gritty of how different product approaches and structures affect the wider organisation and why. This translates to an enthusiastic and engaging conversation on what could easily be a more staid topic.

In this podcast episode, Leah and John explore some useful nuances that are seldom discussed in more typical product management fare that sticks to the big picture ideas (“Discovery is good, m’kay?”).

While I was listening along, I found myself reflecting on some of the operating principles that I tend to use in practice, but rarely articulate. A couple that spring to mind are my preference for smaller, multidisciplinary teams, and having developers responsible for testing and peer-reviewing their own code rather than chucking stuff over the wall to a separate QA team.

A few of the topics that got me thinking were:

defining how the relationship works when one discipline affects how another needs to operate (for example, when the design team is responsible for the system of coherent visual elements that are used in branding, this affects how marketing and sales create customer-facing content);

what is needed for a fruitful CPO-CTO partnership, and why it may not be possible to achieve in practice when each has valid but conflicting ideas on how the system of creating products needs to operate;

remembering to adjust how product work is funded and delivered depending on its certainty, stage or maturity.

Have a listen and see what jumps out for you.

Speak to you soon,

Jock

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what to think about this week

John Cutler — How to structure a product organization

Leah Tharin chats with John Cutler on the challenges of scaling and operating a collaborative product organization.

They discuss different mental models for how different functions work together as teams and why it’s important to clarify and document the operating model, especially during times of growth, turnover, or changing strategies.

John talks about the concept of scaffolding is introduced as a way to navigate the process of change and improvement and why most crossfunctional initiatives fail.

The parts that are often left unsaid

[Leah Tharin and John Cutler / Leah’s ProducTea]

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PRODUCTHEAD is a newsletter for product people of all varieties, and is lovingly crafted from more privacy policies than I ever want to have to read again.