Your first 30-60-90 days in product operations

My first year in product ops was a complete blur! For the most part, it was filled with random Webex virtual coffee chats, mural boards, and process understanding discussions. It was fast-paced, demanding, and very people-oriented - and I loved every minute of it!

I constantly tell people that what set me up for success in my first year wasn’t just my prior experience, social interaction skills, or dexterity with productivity tools like Jira and Airtable (even though I bet they weighed heavily)... it was more so how I approached my start to the role.

Your first three months in any role define how you are perceived within the organization, and it often takes significant effort to correct weak initial impressions. So.. here’s a no-nonsense guide to navigating those critical first 30, 60, and 90 days in product operations, setting you up for success from day one!

First 30 days: Absorb, observe, and build relationships

Step 1: Get the lay of the land

Your first 30 days should be about understanding the landscape. You can’t streamline or optimize a process if you don’t understand how it works today. Absorb everything. Dive deep into the company’s products, its teams, and, most importantly, its challenges.

I directly reported to the VP of Product, and would completely nag him with questions like:

How does our product team currently work?
Can we mural the team’s process workflow from idea to release?
What systems, tools, and processes are in place (or missing)?
What are your biggest pain points?

Asking questions like these immediately positions you as an expert - as I recall the sessions almost felt like a doctor’s consultation with my VP eager to spill the tea on some of the team’s inefficiencies. (The mural boarding session would reveal lots more than you can imagine!)

Step 2: Set up coffee chats & build key relationships

I quickly learned that my success in the role depended MASSIVELY on whether or not the team enjoyed working with me. Despite the fancy title of ‘Manager - Digital Product Operations’, there was no way I would be successful if I wasn’t liked by the team. So I made it my personal mission to get to know the product managers, customer success & marketing teams, engineers, and other cross-functional partners.

During the meets I tried my utmost best to be personable and charismatic - even on the gray and gloomy London days! You must quickly introduce yourself as an ally—the one who’s going to help smooth the path to product delivery.

Pro tip: Don’t just schedule formal meetings. Grab a coffee, jump into Slack convos, and be friendly and personable! It’s all about establishing trust and positioning yourself as someone who makes things happen.

Next 30 days (60-day mark): Plan, prioritize, and execute early wins

Step 3: Identify quick wins

Now that you’ve absorbed the lay of the land, it’s time to identify areas where you can make an immediate impact. Look for low-hanging fruit—processes that are clearly broken or inefficient but easy to fix. These might include:

Streamlining the backlog management process.
Standardizing how product updates are communicated to the team.
Reducing bottlenecks in product launch cycles.
Fixing a disjointed confluence space.

I took on the latter - because I noticed how easy it would be to set up auto-archive rules on confluence to get rid of old content, and front load the important/necessary items. My VP absolutely loved this!

Why should you focus on quick wins? Because nothing builds credibility faster than getting things done. These early wins will prove your value and build momentum for larger, more complex initiatives.

Step 4: Get hands-on with data

In product operations, data is your best friend. By now, you should be diving into key metrics. What does your product team measure? What KPIs or OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) drive decision-making? Understanding these metrics allows you to track performance and identify areas of improvement.

These tasks would not be easy, but by now you should be wrapping your head around how to:

Set up dashboards to track key product metrics in real-time.
Establish standardized reporting systems so everyone—from the execs to the engineers—has access to the same data.
Find data-driven insights to make informed decisions on where to focus your efforts.

By the 60-day mark, you should have a solid understanding of the current state of product ops and a firm grip of the tools/software available to you.

Final 30 days (90-day mark): Optimize, scale, and drive long-term impact

Step 5: Implement scalable processes

Now, it’s time to move from quick fixes to scalable solutions. What can you build now that will support the product team’s long-term growth? Here’s where you move beyond firefighting and start laying the foundation.

Create playbooks: This helped me and my direct reports immensely. Document and standardize processes that the product teams can follow, from backlog management to product releases. These playbooks ensure that even as the team scales or as team members move on, your operations remain consistent and efficient.
Optimize cross-functional communication: Product teams often falter because communication between stakeholders (like marketing, customer support, and sales) is fragmented. Fix this. Establish regular syncs, clear reporting lines, and transparent communication channels.
Leverage tools: Whether it’s JIRA, Airtable, or Confluence, tools are crucial to your role. Are the current tools being used effectively? If not, now’s the time to upgrade systems, automate workflows, and ensure everyone is using the right platforms efficiently.

Step 6: Measure, iterate, and report

By the 90-day mark, you should be running like a well-oiled machine. But product operations is never “done.” It’s about constant iteration. By now, you should have put processes in place to track and measure the impact of your work.

I would constantly update my VP on facts that he didn’t even ask me for during our one-on-ones - it helped ensure he was in the loop of things. I would tell him stuff like “team A is much better at housekeeping their backlog than team B”...

Be the first to report your wins and areas for improvement to leadership. I had learned from previous experiences in management consulting to be proactive about sharing the value you’ve added.

It’s important to make sure people see the positive change you’re driving, especially if the role of product operations is new in your organization. You control your own PR!

Final thoughts: Make an impact early, but give yourself time to learn as well

Your first 90 days as a product operations manager is all about balancing short-term wins with long-term impact. Nail the quick fixes, but always keep an eye on scaling operations for the future. Absorb, build relationships, and prove your value early by driving operational efficiency.

Take it easy on yourself whilst going hard (yes, I hear the paradox). Every organization is different, so one step might take much longer than others. Find people that would be your safe space in the organization, read voraciously (I initially thought owning Melissa Perri’s Product Operations book would be the most cringe thing ever - but it turned out to be perhaps my wisest purchase during that year). Breathe, fill yourself with confidence and remember that you’ve got this!

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