Planview Blog

Leading the conversation on digital connected work

Project to Product Shift, Transformation

Facing Product Operating Model Roadblocks? Here’s the First Step to Speed Up Your Progress.

Dr. Mik Kersten explores why effective product operating model implementations start at the top.

Published By Madison Green
Facing Product Operating Model Roadblocks? Here’s the First Step to Speed Up Your Progress.

If you’ve already started to shift from project to product, you may feel stuck. You’ve made changes and introduced new ways of working, but maybe the outcomes haven’t changed in kind.

In reality, many organizations report these kinds of results. The first sign of friction is often felt in the delivery pipeline: progress slows, feedback loops break down, and teams operate at odds with business goals.

Planview’s 2024 Project to Product State of the Industry Report identified the most common and persistent barriers to implementing the product operating model:

  • Only 15% of organizations can act on customer feedback within weeks. That means the vast majority still struggle to deliver new value based on what customers actually need.
  • 65% lack visibility into their value stream network, leaving them blind to the dependencies and bottlenecks that slow down delivery.
  • Just 10% have a structured approach to managing cross-team dependencies, making coordinated decision-making and planning difficult.
  • And perhaps most telling: Over half still evaluate success using cost and quality metrics rather than business outcomes.

Here’s one of the root causes why those roadblocks exist, according to Dr. Mik Kersten: These are symptoms of an operating model that hasn’t actually changed, despite changes in language and the creation of Agile teams.

As Planview CTO and author of the best-selling book Project to Product, Mik has helped countless organizations launch and manage a successful product operating model transition. In his talk at last year’s Project to Product Summit, he explored patterns to embrace and anti-patterns to avoid, ultimately outlining five steps for implementing a product operating model.

The first step? Start at the top.

In this article, you’ll explore the key points of top-down leadership, from the missteps of delegating change to teams to why top-down deployment is the most effective approach.

Product Operating Models Aren’t Just for the Tech Team

In an era where “regular” companies are beginning to look a lot like software companies, the product operating model is becoming a prerequisite for competitiveness. Recent advances in generative AI technology make the imperative even more essential.

AI has the potential to accelerate every advantage of the product operating model – speedier delivery cycles, thorough feedback loops, and more alignment between business value and technical work – but it won’t help companies that lack the structure to support rapid, customer-centric delivery. In fact, it will make the gap more apparent.

However, according to Mik, organizations that get this right will not only be faster but also 10x more productive and potentially much more.

The data reveals that many organizations are still pigeonholing the product operating model as a technology initiative without realizing it. However, the most meaningful shifts happen when the business changes how it funds, measures, and manages work.

Read More: 12 Essential Mindset Shifts for Product Operating Model Leaders

Why Delegating Change to Teams Doesn’t Work

One of the most important ideas Mik shared was this: You can’t delegate a product operating model into existence.

Too many organizations start their product operating model journey by rebranding team roles and introducing Agile ceremonies, but leave business operations project-based.

“There’s been a lot of focus on empowering teams, but that focus on teams has not necessarily translated into an effective operating model that supports those teams.”

Dr. Mik Kersten

This leads to a disconnect where organizations still practice a Waterfall planning model that doesn’t mesh with the Agile model. Teams are still expected to work under long-term project horizons and adhere to output-based success criteria. The Agile teams are well-structured, but the operating model above them gets in the way of their success.

Read More: Verizon’s “Secret Weapon” for Keeping Their Product Vision on Track

Why Top-Down Deployment is the First Step

Deploying the product operating model from the top down means giving teams the right conditions to thrive. The executive team must lead the shift by:

  • Expanding portfolio views to distinguish projects (short-term, output-driven) from products (long-lived, outcome-driven).
  • Replacing fixed project plans with roadmaps and OKRs.
  • Changing the incentives and funding structure so they’re focused on outcomes instead of outputs.
  • Involving finance, HR, and operations in implementing the model.
  • Aligning planning and capacity across business and technology.

Mik has seen the fastest and most effective transformations when CEOs personally champion the shift. In one case, a Fortune 100 CEO led a cross-functional effort to reorganize around products across the business.

“The key thing is to actually change the incentive and funding structure to be around outcomes, not just outputs.”

Dr. Mik Kersten

This top-down sponsorship allows product teams to work in fast feedback loops toward measurable outcomes. It also prevents old structures from pulling the organization back into project mode.

“The key thing is to actually change the incentive and funding structure to be around outcomes, not just outputs. You have to incentivize those outcomes, empower leaders to drive those outcomes, and connect those outcomes to the work that teams are doing. And of course, do this with a very fast feedback loop,” said Mik.

Importantly, top-down doesn’t mean complete control. It means aligning the whole business – strategy, funding, talent, and planning – around a shared understanding of the product operating model’s value.

Learn the Next Steps

Want to implement the product operating model, but still facing roadblocks? Consider:

  • Are you pushing your teams to transform without transforming the structure around them?
  • Are you focusing on value streams and the business context around them?
  • Are you building the review and feedback rhythms that let product work stay aligned to outcomes?

To learn what comes next, including how to define value streams from the bottom up, unify business and product reviews, and connect flow metrics to outcomes, watch the full session from Dr. Mik Kersten: Five Steps to a Product Operating Model.

Related Posts

Written by Madison Green Product Marketing Intern

Madison Green is a Product Marketing intern at Planview. She is a recent graduate from Texas State University with degrees in both advertising and psychology. She is a storyteller with experience in writing for many different audiences, including executives, students, and small business owners. She is excited to use her skills to contribute to the Planview blog and align content to strategic objectives.