One important tool Product Operations can help deliver is standardization of product roles. Even in small startups where everyone-does-everything-all-the-time, a job description can help team members and stakeholders ground themselves in the work of the product team.
— Product Vice President— Leads the department. Helps determine what the products will solve based on understanding and development of business goals and objectives. Sets the governance of the product development lifecycle.
— Product Directors and Assistant Directors — Content authority on the product strategy. Helps the team understand What problems to solve. Shares strategy through product roadmaps.
— Product Managers — Understand the market and its problems, and determines what to solve. Helps translate strategy to requirements by defining product themes and features. Coordinates closely with Product Owners, Sales, and Marketing.
— Product Owners— Define stories and prioritize the Development Team Backlog to streamline the execution of program priorities while maintaining the conceptual and technical integrity of the Features or for the team. Is a full member of an Agile development team.
— Business Analysts — Assist product owners and managers by collecting, analyzing and summarizing product data and processes. This can be future-looking by providing market analysis, or current-looking by reviewing and synthesizing existing feature functionality.
— Technical Project Managers— Provides project manager expertise to the product development process. Primary role is as Release Manager for the software.
— Project Managers — Supports the business overall, and Product specifically with project management expertise. Reduces risks and improves transparency across intra- and inter-team work initiatives.