Talking Roadmaps

In this episode, Episode 25 - Gerisha Nadaraju, Product Ops Leader & Podcaster. Have a listen!

In this episode, Episode 24 - Jake Burghardt, Consultant and Author. Have a listen!

Anna Prevo, Head of Product Operations at Ceros with a background in product management and release engineering. She talks about why product ops is essential plumbing for product teams. She outlines core pillars like data, process governance, launch ops, and enablement. She discusses cross-functional empathy, iterative implementation, common anti-patterns, and how to scale product ops from one person.

Matt LeMay, product leader, coach, advisor and author focused on helping teams deliver measurable business impact. He talks about defining impact as business milestones and why one metric can mislead. He explains keeping multiple levers in play, the risks of low-impact churn and velocity worship, and using concise one-page plans and scenario choices to force clarity and alignment.

Jonathan Sheffi, VP Strategy & Product Excellence at Clarivate and former Google Cloud product leader, brings life sciences and enterprise software experience. He explains why product ops matters for scale, efficiency, and insight. Topics include standardizing roadmaps, enabling PMs, proving ROI, avoiding bureaucracy, tailoring ops by product stage, and how AI might reshape product work.

Dan Dalton, Director of Product Management at Sage, brings over 15 years of expertise in product management. He discusses how product operations evolve as teams expand, addressing unique challenges at various growth stages. Dalton emphasizes the importance of investing in processes to prevent burnout among product managers while enabling sales, support, and marketing. He advocates for a return to fundamental principles, ensuring alignment in roadmapping and messaging, and highlights the role of AI in enhancing workflows without diminishing the need for human insight.

In a captivating discussion, Victoria Sheer, a seasoned Global Product Value Management lead, shares her extensive experience in product operations and transformation. She highlights how product ops can optimize processes and align teams, significantly impacting profitability. Victoria emphasizes the need for strategic thinking in product ops, advocating for trust in advisory roles rather than mere task enforcement. She warns against mindlessly copying agile frameworks and underscores the importance of strategy alignment in successful transformations. Her insights are invaluable for any corporate professional!

In this engaging discussion, Thomas Hartmann, Co-founder of Product Masterclass, unveils his insights on transitioning B2B software companies from project to product mode. He highlights seven recurring challenges that inspired his framework, contrasts project versus product roadmaps, and emphasizes the importance of shifting focus from individual customer requests to broader market opportunities. Thomas also shares practical hacks for mindset change and the necessity of leadership alignment to achieve scalability and profitability.

Becky Flint, Founder and CEO of Dragonboat, brings her extensive experience from PayPal and BigCommerce to discuss the evolving role of product operations. She highlights the importance of portfolio-level orchestration in product strategy. Key topics include how organizational structure influences models, the need for shared data to enhance decision-making, and measuring the ROI of product operations. Becky emphasizes that processes must be treated as products for efficiency, advocating a mindset that accelerates collective impact across teams.

Valentina Thörner, Head of Product Operations at ZF, shares her expertise in product management and operations. She discusses the necessity of product operations as teams grow, emphasizing goals like improving data quality and enhancing collaboration. Valentina also tackles challenges in cross-functional communication, the significance of templates for remote work, and best practices for visibility. Additionally, she highlights the importance of hiring at the right time and the human touch in remote work, advocating for in-person interactions to boost team dynamics.