Overwhelmed by Product Ops Content?

Written By Jesse Rosel

Here’s a Curated Starter List (Enhanced by NotebookLM).

Photo by Elisa Ventur on Unsplash

As I start on my consulting journey, helping companies move to the product operating model, clients increasingly ask what books, articles, and podcasts I might suggest for someone new to product operations. The good news/bad news is that there is an increasing wealth of resources for someone to dig into, so much so that it can be overwhelming. In fact, there is so much content available that, even after filtering out the influencer fluff and LinkedIn noise, there are still volumes of resources from the big-name content developers alone. You could spend an entire year trying to consume this content as your full-time job just to get through it all!

Simultaneously, I’m obsessed with leveraging generative AI to help both me and my clients consume and absorb the content. I stumbled upon using Google’s NotebookLM to help me distill long podcasts into more digestible bites. Doing this helps me determine if it’s worth listening to the full 1-hour, 23-minute episode or if the “briefing document” it generates is enough. The happy accident here is that I realized I can use NotebookLM to help others. So, this article will weave these two threads together.

The Seminal Works

First, let’s talk about the “famous SMEs” and seminal works before going further. These are the books that are considered foundational in this space. And know that at the end of the day, after all the shortcuts and hacks (including the one I’m going to share with you), you still need to read to these books. I’ll list two of the most well-known, but there are of course several other great books out there that you should explore.

The Books

Now let’s talk about some of the podcasts. There are at dozens out there on the general topic of product management. Many of these podcasts naturally (and frequently) cover product operations in their episodes, both directly and indirectly. Some of my favorites include:

I list Aakash’s podcast as an honorable mention because his focus is primarily on product (and career) growth. However, the case studies and interviews often give indirect insight into applying product operations as an accelerator for growth.

Overwhelmed yet? You should be! I’m overwhelmed just looking at that list, which isn’t even comprehensive — you could explore many more podcasts out there (not to mention all of the individual episodes). It can feel intimidating between the hundreds of hours of episodes to listen to and the thousands of pages to read in the books. Lucky for you, this article is your content summary hack.

NotebookLM to the Rescue

I prefer shorter podcasts… even after listening on 1.3x or 1.5x speed. So when I first came across NotebookLM, I started using it to summarize longer podcast episodes (more than 30–45 minutes) that I was interested in but didn’t want to take the time to listen to the full episode. I already try to listen to several products and AI podcasts every week in addition to reading/listening to audiobooks and trying to keep up with articles. It’s simply too much!

The first use case/problem to solve was simple. I got a quick summary of the article, and I was able to decide if it might actually be worth my time to listen to the whole thing. But this got me thinking. Like many of you, I often fall behind on several podcasts I want to listen to in a given week. Because I can group them by similar domains (i.e., product management or AI), I began experimenting with uploading several episodes simultaneously and getting a broader summary. Rinse. Repeat.

Then I started thinking even more (a dangerous thing for me I realize). In my consulting role, I am being asked more frequently about good resources for product operations. My response has mostly been to provide a list of books and podcasts similar to the list above and wish them good luck. But with NotebookLM, I realized there is a better way to get someone started. Compile a list of podcasts that cover the foundational elements of product operations, create a NotebookLM, and generate a resource that summarizes the core concepts and can act as a reference point for individuals (and teams) moving forward.

I will walk you through the simple steps to do this. I will also share the output at the end of this article since Google does not currently enable sharing notebooks outside of your organization.

Step-by-Step NotebookLM

Step 1: Compile the list of resources — both podcasts and articles. The beauty of NotebookLM is that you can mix media types for the source links. You can upload Google documents, YouTube links, links to Websites, or plain text. I’ll provide the full list of resources (i.e. podcasts and articles) at the end of this article.

Step 2: Create a new notebook. This assumes you have already created an account or are logged in via your existing Gmail/Google account.

Image of NotebookLM

Step 3: Add the sources. Again, you can upload several different types. The catch with podcasts, however, is that they need to either be an audio file you upload or a link to the YouTube version. NotebookLM can only analyze the YouTube transcript, transcribe an uploaded audio file, and then analyze the text. Luckily, all the podcasts I listen to have a YouTube version, so it’s not a problem. The only other constraint is that there is a limit of 50 sources, which I have never come close to reaching.

Image of NotebookLM

Now is where the magic happens. After you add the resources, NotebookLM will analyze the content, create a summary and generate other super useful resources.

Image of NotebookLM

Now you can:

  • “Chat” with the content and ask questions in the standard LLM chat interaction type of experience.

  • Create a “briefing doc” that will summarize all of the content — I pasted the output of the briefing document below to give you a sense of the content.

  • Create a Study guide and a FAQ document.

  • Create a podcast-style audio overview. This is the least interesting feature to me, even though this is the shiny object that generated all the initial buzz. Still, it can be useful for people who prefer listening over reading!

  • There is also a “Mind Map” option that I have only played around with a little.

Summary of Use Cases

As you can see, the generative AI notebook tool has tons of potential. The good thing is that other companies are coming out with their NotebookLM-style solutions, quickly becoming a standalone category for Generative AI tools.

Some use cases that NotebookLM and its sibling products can enhance:

  • Summarizing multiple sources of related content, such as articles and podcasts, to create a condensed document that is more easily digestible

  • Used as a way to learn a new concept or subject matter by being able to ask questions and create an FAQ and “study guide” documents.

  • Using company-specific content and context, this could be a great onboarding resource for new employees.

  • Transcribe your meetings and create aggregated summaries using a Notebook tool.

These are just a few — I’d love to hear your ideas!

Thoughts and Conclusion

If you’re overwhelmed by Product Ops content (or any other new topic or concept for that matter), this workflow might be the shortcut you didn’t know you needed. My goal was to provide you with a cheat sheet of some foundational Product Operations material and teach you how to create a digestible version of this content that you can use as your own resource.

Once again, I emphasize that this is NOT a substitute for reading/listening to the full versions of at least some of this material. However, it does provide both a way to get introduced to the topics and a great reference to be used as needed. I’ve listed the resources I used at the end of this article and included an excerpt from the Notebook I created below. Now, go experiment and create your own!

Excerpt from the Briefing Document generated by NotebookLM

Briefing Document: The Rise and Role of Product Operations

This briefing document synthesizes insights from several sources discussing the emerging and evolving role of Product Operations (Product Ops). It highlights the main themes, important ideas, and key facts surrounding Product Ops, including its definition, drivers, implementation, relationship with other roles, and its value proposition.

Main Themes

Defining Product Operations: Product Ops is broadly defined as the function focused on optimizing and scaling product development processes, tools, and data to enable product teams to operate more effectively and strategically. It can manifest as specific activities or as a dedicated role/team.

According to Christine Itwaru (Pendo), “it is a thing you do… is the creation of some sort of system that allows you to thrive or allows your team to thrive in product management” and also “a person or the people… who are strong Partners to the product manager… and for more mature product Ops teams end up people being more strategic advisors to the head of product.”

Drivers for the Emergence of Product Ops: Several factors contribute to the increasing adoption of Product Ops:

Scaling Challenges: As product teams and organizations grow, inefficiencies in processes, data silos, and lack of standardization become more pronounced, hindering productivity and strategic alignment. Blake Samic (Uber) noted that early Product Ops efforts at Uber were focused on “reigning that problem in” related to scaling driver devices.

Need for Data-Driven Decisions: Product teams require reliable and accessible data (both quantitative and qualitative) to inform their decisions. Product Ops plays a crucial role in establishing systems for data collection, analysis, and dissemination. Denise Tilles emphasizes the “data pieces” as a “game changer.”

Improving Efficiency and Reducing Friction: Product Ops aims to streamline workflows, remove operational burdens from product managers, and improve cross-functional collaboration, allowing PMs to focus on strategy and customer value. Jessica Soroky (Pendo) highlighted that their assessment revealed they “had completely ignored ideiation through to engineering… transparency was really low, our go to market motion was not great.”

Ensuring Consistent and Successful Product Launches: Standardizing launch processes, improving communication, and ensuring cross-functional readiness are key responsibilities of Product Ops. Jessica Soroky mentioned two impactful implementations: a “go to market checklist” and a “launch brief.”

Voice of the Customer Management: Centralizing and disseminating customer feedback from various sources (support tickets, sales calls, etc.) to the right stakeholders is a critical function. Scott White (Airtable) described creating “a system… of centralizing into one place piping out to the people who we think are the right stakeholders based on keywords and tags of that data.”

Implementing and Structuring Product Operations: The implementation of Product Ops varies significantly based on organizational context:

Starting Small and Focusing on Needs: It’s often recommended to begin with a small team or individual focused on addressing the most pressing pain points, whether data or process-related. Blake Samic (Stripe) “advocated for starting small by embedding with one team to show results before expanding.”

Centralized, Embedded, or Hybrid Models: Organizations can choose to have a central Product Ops team supporting multiple product teams, embed Product Ops individuals within specific product areas, or adopt a hybrid approach. Scott White (Airtable) describes a “centralized repository… with local autonomy.”

Defining Scope and Responsibilities Clearly: Differentiating the role of Product Ops from product managers, program managers, and product marketers is essential to avoid overlap and ensure clarity. Blake Samic (Uber) focused on defining “three pillars of the role at that time.”

The Value Proposition of Product Operations: Effective Product Ops provides significant benefits to an organization:

Empowering Product Managers: By taking on operational tasks, Product Ops frees up product managers to focus on strategy, customer research, and innovation. Christine Itwaru asks, “do you want your PMS to constantly be Fielding questions from your Revenue team when they could be spending time with customers?”

Improving Strategic Decision-Making: Providing product leadership with reliable data and insights enables more informed strategic choices. Melissa Perri and Denise Tilles note that Product Ops can help product leaders get “these types of insights. This helps me. This is how our business runs and this is how I want to set the strategy.”

Enhancing Cross-Functional Alignment and Communication: Product Ops facilitates better collaboration and information flow between product, engineering, marketing, sales, and support teams. Jessica Soroky (Pendo) emphasized that they aimed to prevent a customer from calling and telling them about a recently released feature before they were aware.

Driving Efficiency and Scalability: Standardizing processes and tools enables product development to scale more effectively and efficiently. Blake Samic highlighted the leverage gained by doing things “centrally.”

Improving Product Quality and Outcomes: By focusing on process and data, Product Ops contributes to the delivery of higher-quality products and better business results.

Important Ideas and Facts

Airtable as a Platform Product: Airtable evolved from a “Lego kit” of primitives to recognizing the value of “specific use cases” and developing features that cater to vertical needs while maintaining horizontal extensibility.

Uber’s Early Product Ops Focus: Initially inward-focused, Uber’s Product Ops aimed to solve the problem of providing physical phones to drivers and then expanded to include surfacing global business insights, ensuring global viability, and managing product rollouts.

Stripe’s Gradual Investment in Central Programs: Stripe started with embedded Product Ops and gradually built central programs and systems, demonstrating the value of central leverage.

Pendo’s Product Ops Evolution: Driven by a need for better transparency and go-to-market processes identified through an internal assessment, Pendo intentionally housed program managers under Product Ops to clarify roles and responsibilities. Their Product Ops team focuses on data (especially leveraging their own product), process optimization, and scaling.

The Importance of Understanding Business Strategy: Effective product strategy, which Product Ops supports, stems from understanding the business strategy, goals, and objectives, and then evaluating customer problems through that lens (Scott White, Airtable).

Global Alignment with Local Autonomy: A key concept in scaling product development, allowing for standardized processes and visibility at a high level while giving individual teams flexibility in their workflows and tools (Scott White, Airtable).

Product Development as a Lifecycle: Encompassing company strategy, data analysis, initiative generation, roadmapping, execution, launch, and post-launch learning (Scott White, Airtable).

The Challenge of Hiring for Product Ops: Finding individuals who excel in both data and process (“purple squirrels”) is difficult, suggesting a focus on the area of greatest need initially (Melissa Perri and Denise Tilles).

Product Ops as More Than Just Process: It’s not a replacement for bad product management but an enabler of better product management (Melissa Perri).

The Need for a Customer-Centric Product Vision and Insight-Driven Strategy: These are foundational elements of a successful product operating model (Silicon Valley Product Group).

The “Reincarnated PMO Model” vs. More Valuable Definitions: Some definitions of Product Ops risk replicating a traditional Project Management Office (PMO) focused on planning and tracking, which the Silicon Valley Product Group considers less valuable than approaches that empower product teams.

The Moral Case for the Product Model: This emphasizes a shift towards creating value and positive impact, contrasting with a purely exploitative approach (Silicon Valley Product Group).

Spotify’s Focus on Risk Mitigation in Product Discovery: Their process emphasizes understanding value, usability, feasibility, and viability risks before significant investment (Silicon Valley Product Group).

Internal Tools Contributing to Customer Value: Even internal tools, like those for auditors, ultimately contribute to customer value by ensuring trust and compliance (Melissa Perri).

Product Ops Driving Transparency: A lack of transparency across teams and with customers is a key indicator that an organization might benefit from Product Ops (Christine Itwaru, Pendo).

The Importance of Buy-in from Leadership: Successful Product Ops initiatives require support and buy-in from executive leadership (Christine Itwaru, Pendo).

Core of a PM Role: Spending time with customers and understanding their pain points is considered a fundamental aspect of the product manager role that should not be offloaded (Christine Itwaru, Pendo).

Career Path for Product Ops: Individuals from product management, management consulting, customer success, and technical success backgrounds can be a good fit for Product Ops. Leadership roles in Product Ops often require prior hands-on product experience (Christine Itwaru, Pendo).

This briefing document provides a comprehensive overview of Product Operations based on the provided sources, highlighting its significance in modern product development. The role continues to evolve, but its core focus on enabling product teams through optimized processes, data, and tools remains central to its value.

Podcast & Article Source List

Jesse Rosel
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