What I Learned From DevOps, Applied to Product Management

It has been several enlightening months since I transitioned from a DevOps Engineering role to being a Product Owner. I have learned a lot from my colleagues who have been in the role for years, but there are also certain aspects that have been unique to my experience, such as the use of agile principles and applying DevOps principles to product management.

As the owner of a product, most of the value you provide comes from pushing the features of your product forward. This requires understanding what the customer wants, how the product needs to be built and deployed, and ensuring that there is a plan to deliver on time. This is where I first noticed the overlap between the principles of DevOps and those of product management. At the heart of both disciplines is the idea that small changes can have a big impact on the success of an organization or product. The issue for both is the same:

How can we create the smallest possible change with the greatest potential impact?

By applying DevOps-style continuous integration (CI) during product development, product managers are able to identify areas for improvement faster and more accurately, as well as quickly deploy changes with minimal disruption. One of the ways that this can be done is by dramatically reducing the size of features before implementation. Teams can then test various iterations quickly and effectively before moving forward.

Additionally, DevOps' continuous feedback loops make sure that problems are found and fixed right away. The same principle applies to product management: understanding user needs through feedback loops and weekly catchup meetings helps us make better decisions about what we’re building and how we’re building it.

Inter-team collaboration is another area that DevOps (and being Agile in general) emphasize. Product managers should take this same approach in order to realize their product vision. Working with everyone from different domains ensures that all stakeholders understand how their work impacts the final product and ultimately the customer experience.

By taking advantage of everything DevOps has taught us, product managers can create more efficient processes, smarter products, and happier customers.

Note: This was first published as a LinkedIn article.