I help product and technology leaders in growth-stage companies to escape wasted effort, feature-factory traps, and coordination chaos—so you can build empowered teams, deliver value faster, and restore trust with the business. This short-episode audio series accompanied by an email mini-course walks you step by step through the product operating model landscape, providing actionable insights you can absorb on your commute or coffee break.

What you’ll learn: why you need a product operating model, how to spot the feature-factory, how to scale without losing agility.
Short episodes you can plug into your schedule.
Reflection questions after each to translate ideas into your context.

You can also find all the episodes on the Scaling AI: From Activity to Impact podcast feed (Available on your favorite podcast player)

Ready to start navigating the product operating model landscape? (Episode 0)

Here’s your first episode, which provides a high-level introduction to the series. In this episode, we explore:

What’s behind the buzz around POM?
How POM differs from previous investments in product organization and agile transformation
The rise in popularity of product thinking
Differences between POM, product-led organizations, and product-led growth
When it makes sense for product/technology leaders to consider applying POM
The goal of this audio series - to provide actionable insights for product and technology leaders navigating the product transformation landscape.

https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1195288.rss

Why would you need a Product Operating Model? (Episode 1)

In this episode, we explore:

Why organizations need a Product Operating Model
Comparison of POM to traditional agile methodologies
Introduction to the concept of “feature factories”
Discussion on the continuum from activity to outputs to outcomes
The key characteristics of a Product Operating Model

https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1195288.rss

Reflection question:

Where do you see signs of feature factory dynamics, despite your best efforts?
So what? Why is that a problem?
What could you unlock if you could magically shift from a feature factory to a product lab?
What would be the impact on your company/business?
How would it make life better for you as a product leader?

Why are we stuck in the Feature Factory? (Episode 2)

Ok, so we hopefully established the potential of shifting from a feature factory towards a product-oriented organization. To start that shift, let’s explore why so many organizations are stuck in the feature factory (or even struggle to get to it…)

In this episode, I explore one of the main villains in the product and agile landscape - the theater:

Introduction to the concept of “Agile Theater” or “Product Theater”
Exploration of how organizations adopt agile terminology without true transformation
Challenges in transitioning from traditional roles to agile roles
The disconnect between adopting agile concepts and truly empowering teams
How Agile Theater contributes to maintaining a feature factory mentality

https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1195288.rss

Check out the Product Organization Scorecard, which can help you assess where you stand on the path from Theater to Factory to Product Lab.`

Empowered Product Teams – The Key to Speed, Outcomes and Impact (Episode 3)

Now that we’ve established our goal - creating empowered product teams- let’s discuss how to scale a product organization using these empowered product teams as a building block and connecting them without sacrificing agility and product orientation.

https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1195288.rss

Here are some questions for you to explore:

Do you see the characteristics of truly empowered product teams in your product organization?
What are the challenges your product people are facing?
What are your main challenges in building effective product capabilities in your organization?
Are your product people able to think strategically, or are they buried in tactical team needs and process theater?

How to Scale Your Product/Tech Organization Without Sacrificing Your Agility (Episode 4)

Now that we’ve established our goal - creating empowered product teams, let’s discuss how to scale a product organization using these empowered product teams as a building block and connecting them without sacrificing agility and product orientation.

https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1195288.rss

Reflection questions for you:

Which of the scaling challenges is your product organization facing?
How does your product topology pyramid look like? How much of the work is done by empowered product teams? How much is stuck in feature factory mode?
How can you leverage the different product team topologies to help you shift towards a healthier product topology pyramid?
How will you approach descaling your product organization?

Want to dive deeper? Check out this article on why and when we need a product operating model, which explores the product topology pyramid concept in more depth.

How to Apply Product Thinking to Strategic Bets and Portfolio-Level Work (Episode 5)

Did I get you thinking about how to flip your product topology pyramid and move more work towards empowered product teams and groups? I hope so…

The reality is that in a multi-product organization, it’s almost impossible to manage ALL the work in these teams. Some work will still require collaboration across product groups as well as strategic consideration by product and even business leadership. You might be calling it your product portfolio.

In the next episode, we explore how to apply product thinking to this cross-product / organizational level work.

https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1195288.rss

Here are your reflection questions for this episode:

How are you managing work that spans multiple product groups or the entire organization?
Are these portfolio or strategic initiatives managed as projects or products?
What’s the ideal scenario for you? What’s the balance you’d like to see across empowered teams, product groups, and organization-wide initiatives?

Bringing Together The Elements of a Product Operating Model – From Inspiration to Transformation (Episode 6)

et’s talk about how to integrate the Product Operating Model elements we discussed in previous episodes.

https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1195288.rss

As we head towards the finish line of this audio series, you might want to reflect on:

What are the key aspects of a true product-oriented, agile organization - and more importantly, what can such an organization unlock for your company?
What’s in it for you (yes, you, as an individual) in driving this shift? Which of your problems would it address? How would it make a difference?
What might it look like to approach your product transformation as a product? Which product best practices could be helpful for navigating organizational change/development?

From Buzz To Clarity To Action - It’s your turn now… (Episode 7)

I appreciate you joining me in touring the product operating model landscape!

I created the “Navigating the Product Operating Model Landscape” audio series to help product and technology leaders like you gain clarity on the path from a product/agile theater feature factory to becoming an empowered, outcome-oriented, and scalable product organization.

In this last episode of the initial series, I share where we might go next in future episodes, exploring the product journey on the Scaling AI: From Activity to Impact podcast.

https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1195288.rss

Now that you’ve gone through the course, it’s your turn. What action will you take?

You might find this exercise helpful for this reflection. (Hey, it’s what I use when working with product/tech leaders like you in the Product Operating Model Strategy Workshop)

Want more hands-on personalized help navigating the journey towards becoming an outcome-oriented, evidence-based, empowered product organization? I’d love to learn more about your goals and provide some advice.