Product Ops Assistant
Use the gathered insights to develop an alignment plan. This plan may include:
- Communication channels — if necessary, set up a dedicated communication channel (e.g., in Slack or Teams) for the initiative to ensure focused conversations. (See our “Creating and managing shared communication channels” playbook for further guidelines). If a channel already exists, ensure that the right Product Team members are included.
- Roles and responsibilities — create a document that details each department’s role in the initiative and identifies who is responsible for specific tasks. Ensure all team members understand their contributions and are accountable. If this already exists, ensure the Product Team has access to it and is represented.
- Centralized status dashboard — create a live dashboard that tracks initiative progress, milestones, and upcoming deadlines across departments. Ensure each department has a designated representative responsible for regularly updating the dashboard. (Refer to our “Creating and maintaining reports and dashboards” playbook for further guidance).
If the company already has a dashboard in place, ensure that the Product Team’s responsibilities and tasks are accurately represented and that it is appropriately and regularly updated as progress is made. If the Product Team uses a different system to track their work, explore integrations to reduce redundant updates across multiple platforms.
- Regular meetings — if ongoing status check-ins are necessary, schedule them and create a consistent agenda to track progress (see our playbook on “Setting-up regular cross-departmental meetings” for more details).
If a centralized project manager is leading the initiative, ensure the correct Product Team members are invited to these meetings and come prepared to provide updates. In certain cases, the Product Ops Assistant can represent the team at these meetings to streamline communication.
- Status reports — a summary report may be required to provide leadership or non-direct contributors with an overview of initiative progress. If your project tracking tool offers a suitable summary view, this can serve as the report. Otherwise, create a report tailored to the audience that highlights key progress, challenges, and the overall status of the initiative. Visual cues to indicate whether the initiative is on track can be particularly effective in these cases. If a project manager is responsible for reporting, contribute by ensuring the Product Team’s progress is properly represented in the report or tools.
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