Organizations that adopt product-oriented approaches achieve faster delivery, better stability, and higher customer satisfaction. But what does a product operating model look like in practice – and at scale?
These on-demand sessions from the Project to Product Summit 2024 feature three distinct perspectives that answer this question.
Vanguard and Verizon show how established enterprises can transition from project-based to product-centric models, while Spotify offers insights from a company that has been built on product-focused principles from the beginning.
Each company achieved significant business improvements:
- Vanguard increased its technology change rate five-fold while reducing major incidents by 75%.
- Verizon scaled agile methodologies and a product-driven model across their entire Consumer Group.
- Spotify maintained consistent product success for over a decade.
Read on for actionable insights for applying and scaling a product operating model, whether you’re making your modernization plan or refining your existing approach.
Vanguard’s Transformation Journey
“Introducing Flow at Scale at Vanguard”
What happens when you introduce flow measurement across an enterprise software development organization? Susan Schweitzer, Senior Flow Advisor at Vanguard, shares the company’s step-by-step journey from small beginnings to large-scale implementation.
See how Vanguard leveraged a 10-team pilot to apply flow measurement and improve software delivery efficiency for more than 750 teams.
Key Takeaway: You’ll gain tips and advice for piloting and scaling flow measurement in your own organization, following patterns that worked for Vanguard.
Watch Now: Introducing Flow at Scale at Vanguard
“Vanguard’s Five-Year Modernization Journey”
In 2020, Vanguard began a five-year modernization plan to improve its digital channels and boost investor outcomes. Vanguard Chief Technology Officer Mike Carr breaks down the four key elements that drove their success:
- Cloud Migration: Moving to public cloud gave developers faster access to resources and let them focus on creating features instead of managing infrastructure.
- Microservice Architecture: Switching from monolithic applications to microservices made changes faster and more stable, as smaller code units limited the impact of modifications.
- Agile Methodology Reinforcement: Vanguard had used agile since 2006 but lacked proper CI/CD pipelines. This initiative focused on returning to true agile principles with comprehensive training and modern development practices.
- Product Orientation: The shift from temporary project teams to permanent product teams reduced setup overhead, preserved expertise, and enabled continuous performance improvement.
Discover how Vanguard achieved five times more technology changes while reducing major incidents by 75%. Customer satisfaction also increased as they used their new capabilities to make improvements based on investor goals.
Key Takeaway: You’ll learn how Vanguard’s comprehensive approach combined technical improvements with organizational changes to create both speed and stability.
Watch Now: Vanguard’s Five-Year Modernization Journey
Verizon’s Multi-Year Transformation Journey
“Align Your Organization with Your Product Vision: A Verizon Story”
Moving from projects to products requires more than a change in terminology—it demands a full shift in organizational structure. In this session, two Verizon leaders share how their Consumer Group made this fundamental change.
Verizon’s Abby Knowles, Vice President (GTS) Global Technology Solutions, and Archana Prabhu, Senior Director, Solution Architecture, take you inside Verizon’s multi-year journey to adopt agile methods and a product-driven model at scale. You’ll learn about their strategic approach, the obstacles they faced, and the specific steps they took to succeed.
Learn how they aligned teams, processes, and governance to support their product vision, creating coherence across the entire organization.
Key Takeaway: You’ll gain practical insights on how to align your organization with your product vision – and what to avoid doing – even in a large enterprise setting with established processes and structures.
Watch Now: Align Your Organization with Your Product Vision: A Verizon Story
Spotify’s Decade of Product Success
“How Do We Do Product at Spotify?”
Ever wondered how Spotify consistently creates successful products? This rare look inside their product practices comes from Rachel Dubois, former Senior Product & Agile Coach at Spotify, who shares methods that have driven the company’s success for over a decade.
Unlike many companies that had to transform from project to product, Spotify built its approach on product-focused principles from early on. Rachel reveals how the company blends various techniques into their unique recipe for product success.
Find out how Spotify works with OKRs, agile practices, data insights, continuous discovery, design thinking, and lean UX. You’ll see how these elements come together in a cohesive system that keeps them at the forefront of the music-streaming industry.
Key Takeaway: Whether your company is starting fresh or refining an existing product approach, you’ll learn applicable techniques from one of the world’s most successful digital product companies.
Watch Now: How Do We Do Product at Spotify?
Put These Lessons to Work
Whether you’re starting your project-to-product shift, mid-transformation, or refining your approach, these sessions offer insights you can apply now. Watch them at your convenience and revisit key points as you implement changes in your organization.
Go deeper
The 2024 Project to Product State of the Industry report provides the latest research on adopting and implementing a product operating model.
In these findings, you’ll uncover:
- The 8 key areas where elite organizations excel
- The barriers preventing companies from achieving optimal results
- The crucial factors separating high and low performers
