In a recent LinkedIn post, Melissa Perri discusses the common challenges leaders face when establishing Product Operations (Product Ops) functions within their organizations. Perri highlights that many leaders are essentially creating their own playbooks from scratch, often finding existing theoretical frameworks inadequate when applied to real-world team dynamics, data, and organizational politics.
As Perri points out, the lack of clear guidance is a significant hurdle:
Most leaders standing up product operations are inventing the playbook as they go.
A VP gets the mandate to build product ops, looks around for guidance, and finds frameworks that sound good in theory but break the second they meet real teams, real data, and real politics.
The Genesis of ‘Product Operations’
Perri, co-author of the book “Product Operations” with Denise Tilles, explains that the book was born out of their own experiences navigating these complexities. The material within the book represents the essential knowledge they wished they had when first building these critical functions.
According to Perri, the book aims to fill a crucial knowledge gap:
When Denise Tilles and I wrote Product Operations, this is the gap we kept circling back to. The material in that book is everything we wished someone had handed us when we were standing up these functions for the first time.
Bridging Theory and Practice with Workshops
Beyond the book, Perri also draws attention to an upcoming online workshop led by Denise Tilles, designed to offer practical, hands-on guidance. This workshop is specifically tailored for individuals currently grappling with Product Ops challenges, whether they are in the initial setup phase, scaling beyond a solo role, or seeking to overcome obstacles in gaining executive support.
Perri emphasizes the workshop’s direct applicability:
Denise is running an online workshop on June 11 that takes it one step further. You bring the situation you’re actually in: standing up the function, scaling past the team-of-one stage, or trying to unstick executive buy-in. She walks you through it.
A Deeper Dive into Practical Application
The workshop is positioned as an accelerated path to actionable insights, offering a more direct engagement with the expertise shared in the book. Perri suggests it’s the closest approximation to direct mentorship for those who have read the book, and a significantly faster route to problem-solving for those who haven’t yet delved into the material.
The post concludes with a question aimed at engaging the community and further understanding persistent challenges in the field: “What’s the part of your product ops setup you’ve never quite cracked?” This invites a broader conversation, reinforcing Perri’s commitment to advancing the practice of Product Operations through shared knowledge and practical solutions.
📝 About This Content
This article is based on insights shared by Melissa Perri on LinkedIn.
📅 Originally posted on May 19, 2026 | View original post on LinkedIn →