“PMs work on the π½πΏπΌπ±ππ°π. Product leaders work on the π½πΏπΌπ±ππ°π πΌπΏπ΄.” – Ed Biden
Let’s take it one step further.
Product Leaders should work on the Product Organization using a Product Approach.
Successful Product Leaders I worked with applied their Product chops to working on their Org. They Hypothesize, Experiment, Keep options open, Inspect and Adapt, Orient to Outcomes, and use Evidence to guide them.
They DON’T spend 100 days planning the reorg to solve all Product organization problems. They get going with bite-sized changes within 10 days. (If we were playing buzzword bingo, you could call this Bias for Action I guess)
They apply a Product Operating Model to introduce a Product Operating Model.
They consider themselves stewards of the Product Management experience and frame their goals and actions around serving their customers (The PMs and other stakeholders of the Product organization).
They treat their potential changes/interventions as a hypothesis and walk the truth curve. They use Minimum Viable Changes.
They engage and empower cross-functional teams of the right people (often bringing in perspectives outside the Product Org) to figure out complex problems.
You might consider this Product Operations. Initially its a capability the Product Leader and core Product Management team might focus on. Over time, As their organization scales it often makes sense to organize a specialized enabling / platform team to help steward the Product Operating Model.
The most successful ones? They rally their colleagues to work on the whole company as a product.