Understanding the role of product ops | Christine Itwaru (Pendo)

Christine Itwaru, a product operations leader at Pendo who transitioned from product management, explains product ops as both a system for product teams to thrive and a partner role that handles operational tasks, freeing PMs to focus on customers and engineers. The role gained traction around 2019 amid rapid growth, product-led growth tactics, and the need for cross-functional alignment in maturing product organizations.

Core Functions of Product Ops

Product ops aggregates and synthesizes voice of customer data—quantitative metrics like NPS alongside qualitative feedback from sales, success, and support—to deliver prioritized insights to PMs during planning. This includes facilitating cross-team sessions for transparency, such as Pendo's approach of uniting revenue and product groups to align on customer requests, validate via research, and educate teams on non-product solutions like better enablement. Other tasks cover tooling optimization (e.g., integrating Pendo with Salesforce for PM dashboards), content strategy woven into development (e.g., in-app guides and Zendesk updates as part of "done"), and initial process facilitation like standardized planning without stifling creativity in early-stage teams.