More and more companies recognize that Product Leaders like you are essential to driving business growth. They understand that enabling you to focus your time and energy on leading your team and shaping the product’s success is crucial to a prosperous organization. However, leadership may not fully grasp what it takes for you to get there — or how your operational workload might be hindering that progress. We’ve compiled some practical steps to help you have a productive conversation with leadership about the benefits of a Product Ops Assistant.
Steps for convincing leadership to hire a Product Ops Assistant
If you need budget approval for a Product Ops Assistant, here are some strategies to effectively present your case to leadership:
1. Audit your time
Start by gathering information on where your time is going. Conduct a two-week time audit, tracking your daily work activities in a spreadsheet. Note how much time you spend on each task, keeping it high-level, and categorize each as either operational or strategic. If your days tend to be unpredictable, try logging activities every couple of hours to avoid overlooking anything. For meetings accurately represented on your calendar, use those entries to guide your records. After two weeks, total the hours spent in each category and assess your strategic-to-operational ratio.
2. Compare your data
According to a 2019 Pragmatic Institute Product Management and Marketing Survey, product leaders believe they should spend 56%–60% of their time on strategic activities, with only 44%–40% devoted to operational tasks. However, the reality paints a different picture: product professionals across the board spend a mere 27% of their time on strategy, while 73% is consumed by operational or tactical work. Compare your own time audit results against these benchmarks. How does your current focus measure up?
3. Outline strategic initiatives
Consider how shifting your focus to strategic tasks will directly impact the company’s growth and innovation goals. Create a list of key strategic initiatives you want to prioritize and gather data on why they should be prioritized — for example, revenue opportunities these initiatives could generate. Consider the dedicated focus you’d need for these initiatives. Then, select a few operational activities that take up most of your bandwidth and outline how much time you could save by delegating them to a Product Ops Assistant.
4. Demonstrate potential operational improvements
Evaluate your team operations and dynamics and consider how a Product Ops Assistant could add value beyond freeing up your time — such as by enhancing team performance and streamlining operational processes. Gather any relevant data or metrics that support your argument and emphasize how improved operational efficiency can lead to better outcomes. Here are some examples:
- Streamlining release coordination: Perhaps your team has faced delays due to inefficient release coordination and a lack of standardized procedures. However, there’s just never enough time to overhaul the process. A dedicated Product Ops Assistant could standardize and streamline your releases, ultimately helping to reduce delays and boost team productivity.
- Optimizing stakeholder communication: If you find yourself in a reactive mode with stakeholders, you may be aware that a more proactive approach could improve relationships, but time constraints prevent you from developing a plan. A Product Ops Assistant could create a proactive stakeholder engagement plan and regularly manage updates and coordination, leading to an increase in stakeholder satisfaction — an improvement metric you can use to support your case.
- Improving team onboarding: As your team grows, you may find that your onboarding process falls short of ideal. Effective onboarding is crucial for setting new team members up for success and fostering smooth integration with existing staff, but designing a structured program takes time. A Product Ops Assistant can boost team satisfaction and foster a positive culture by developing and executing comprehensive onboarding plans, ensuring new hires feel welcomed and quickly become productive in their roles.
5. Highlight cost-effectiveness
Hiring a Product Ops Assistant is a cost-effective solution, especially with a service like Sharpa, which offers flexible options so you don’t need to commit to a full-time assistant. Compare the cost of hiring a Product Ops Assistant with your own salary. Using your time audit data, illustrate that a significant percentage of your time is spent on tasks that a lower-cost assistant could handle. If you can demonstrate that the revenue opportunities associated with strategic initiatives would outweigh the cost of the new hire, this becomes a strong point in favor of the addition.
6. Present to your boss
With all the information you’ve gathered, present your case to your boss. Share insights from your time audit, along with industry data from the Pragmatic Institute, highlighting the gap between your current focus and ideal focus. Be prepared to explain how the strategic initiatives you’ve outlined are crucial for product success — and how they aren’t feasible without delegating operational tasks. Provide specific examples where a Product Ops Assistant could add even more value to your team by driving much-needed operational improvements. Don’t forget to emphasize the cost-effectiveness of having someone else handing operational tasks at a lower cost, while you focus on high-impact strategic work that justifies your salary.
Elevating your focus on strategic impact
Hiring a Product Ops Assistant could be transformative, enabling you to reclaim valuable time for the high-impact, strategic work that drives product success. By carefully tracking your time, comparing industry benchmarks, and building a strong case around cost-effectiveness and operational improvements, you can present a compelling argument to leadership. Remember, the goal is not just to delegate tasks but to unlock new potential for your product and team. With these steps, you’ll be well-prepared to make a convincing case for the support you need to keep your focus where it matters most — on shaping the product vision and delivering results.
At Sharpa, we understand the challenges of securing leadership approval for the resources you need. That’s why our premium operational support service is designed to make a clear impact, helping you reclaim time for strategic priorities and demonstrate measurable improvements. Get started today and we’ll set you up with a dedicated professional to help unlock new potential for your product and team.
