What Makes a Product Org Actually Work
Why your Product Operating Model isn’t enough and how your Product Operating System keeps everything running
👋 Hi, I’m Mat and whether you’re new or already following along — welcome to The Glue, a free newsletter about frameworks, tools, and systems for building product orgs that actually work.
Each issue shares practical ideas to help you align your team, reduce friction, and strengthen what holds your product org together.
I’m also writing a book called Making Product Work — so from time to time, I’ll share early snippets and ask for feedback to make it even better before it’s out.
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You’ve probably seen it before:
A product org restructures. The strategy is clarified. Teams get “empowered.”
Everything looks great on a slide.
And then… things start to wobble.
Teams drift. Priorities shift without explanation.
Processes are introduced but never really take hold.
The org isn’t falling apart… but it’s not really clicking either.
The model was right. So what’s missing?
The model sets the direction. The system keeps it running.
Marty Cagan and others are using the term Product Operating Model, a set of principles and structures that define how high-functioning product orgs operate.
Small, empowered product teams
Outcome-oriented roadmaps
Rapid, continuous delivery
Strong product leadership and discovery culture
It’s the blueprint many orgs aspire to…and for good reason.
But the Product Operating Model alone doesn’t keep the machine running.
Especially as the team scales, new functions get added, and entropy creeps in.
The Product Operating Model tells you what good looks like.
The Product Operating System is how your org actually works and improves every day.
What is a Product Operating System?
The Product Operating System is the real-world system that powers your org’s execution.
It’s the collection of phases, people involved, rhythms, tools, artifacts, and behaviors that connect your strategy to how work actually gets done.
It includes things like:
Planning and prioritization workflows
Decision making structures
Team coordination rituals
Feedback systems and learning loops
Visibility into progress, friction, and health
The tooling that supports all of the above
It’s not a framework. It’s not tied to one role.
It’s the living system that determines whether your product org can move, adapt, and deliver…or not.
Most breakdowns in product orgs aren’t strategy problems.
They’re system problems.
Model vs. System Side by side
How it differs from PDLC and SDLC and why it supports both
You might be asking:
”Wait…Mat, how is this different from the Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC) or Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)?”
Here’s the difference:
PDLC defines how a product moves from idea to launch
SDLC defines how software gets built, tested, and deployed
The POS defines what make those lifecycles work and continue to improve
Your PDLC can be clean and well-documented.
Your SDLC can be fully instrumented.
But if your planning cycles are inconsistent, your feedback loops are broken, and nobody knows how decisions get made…
You don’t have an operating system.
You have a collection of disconnected processes.
The POS is what wraps around your PDLC and SDLC.
It turns them from theory into real, reliable practice.
What does this look like in the wild?
Imagine two orgs with identical roles, headcount, and structure.
In one, every new ritual dies within a month.
Priorities shift without notice.
Feedback gets collected but never used.
And teams say, “We’re building a lot, but we don’t know if it’s the right stuff.”In the other, planning and delivery rhythms are visible and predictable.
Prioritization has structure.
Feedback loops are tight…both within teams and across functions.
And teams say, “We’re moving with purpose and getting better every cycle.”
Same model. Same lifecycle stages.
Different system.
What Product Ops leaders (and others doing the work) can do
You don’t need to own the model to improve the system.
In fact, Product Ops often has the clearest view into how the system is really functioning.
1. Map your Product Operating System
Before you optimize anything, make it visible.
Bonus: don’t just list what exists, note what’s unclear, redundant, or fragile.
Mapping the POS gives you a diagnostic lens. You can’t tune what you can’t see.
2. Look for weak or missing feedback loops
Many teams only run big loops: quarterly surveys, retros, or roadmap reviews.
These are useful, but slow and often too late.
Bonus: Embed little loops into the system:
After a rollout: “What’s clunky or confusing?”
After a planning meeting: “What didn’t feel clear?”
In your tooling: “Is this dashboard helpful, or just noise?”
These small, informal feedback cycles surface friction fast and build trust across the org.
3. Normalize visibility and adjustment
Once your POS is mapped, make it known. Share the system view.
(Yes, even if it’s messy.)
Create a MIRO or Figjam that shows the system’s parts
Flag what’s working and what’s experimental
Use pulse surveys or async check-ins to track system health
Celebrate small ops wins (like a planning tweak that unlocked clarity)
This is how Product Ops moves from invisible glue to visible enabler.
What if you’re not formally in Product Ops?
No problem.
If you’re a Staff PM, a Chief of Staff, a Program Manager, or a team lead who keeps things moving this is your layer too.
Start by:
Mapping what your team relies on to coordinate and decide
Running micro-retros on rituals and tools
Advocating for consistent rhythms and shared visibility
Building feedback habits into your team’s normal workflow
The Product Operating System doesn’t care what your title is.
But it benefits from everyone who sees the system and makes it stronger.
You can’t scale alignment, effectiveness, efficiency, and continuous improvement without a system that supports it.
The Product Operating Model gives you the aspiration.
Your PDLC and SDLC give you the process.
But your Product Operating System is what turns all of that into a working, learning, resilient org.
If you want your org to actually operate not just reorganize this is where to start.
-Mat 🤓
p.s.
I’m building out a lightweight toolkit to help product orgs map and improve their Product Operating System.
Make sure to Subscribe to get first access!
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Essential reading!
I believe that Product Operations (ProdOps) should be approached as a Product, rather than just an internal product, where most of the deliverables are processes (including apps or frameworks designed to support those processes). The game changer is understanding that the Product team has different personas and different ways of working; a 50-year-old will not work with the same tools or processes as a 20-year-old. How do you align these different outputs? By standardizing knowledge and using the same language within the company.