Hello Reader,

Lately I've been reflecting on product training, as we go into our 10th year at Product Institute. I've seen so many evolutions of product management, from when we didn't even acknowledge product was a thing, to the high days of agile transformations and product owners, to now AI PMs and talk about how teams will change. Through it all, we've worked with dozens of large enterprises running digital transformations and training thousands of people at a time.

There's a key differentiator between the ones who succeed and those who struggle. I want to share it with you.

The Pattern I Keep Seeing

Many companies approach training with enthusiasm, but deploy it like a checkbox item with no real integration into their operating models. Teams start out excited, but engagement dwindles. Leaders begin hearing things like "well yes, that sounds nice in theory, but we don't operate that way" and "I'm not sure how this applies to us."

These leaders hoped training would solve their organizational challenges. But training alone can't. Not without a product operating model to back it up.

Why the Gap Exists

Teams come back from excellent training programs energized and equipped with new frameworks. But within weeks, they hit the same walls:

Without explicit connection to how your company operates, people are left to figure out translation on their own. Some figure it out. Many get frustrated. Most revert to old habits because it's easier than navigating ambiguity.

Training can teach better practices, but if the system doesn't support those practices, or if people don't know how those practices fit into the system, you won't get transformation. You'll get disengagement.

Training is powerful when it does more than teach theory. The magic happens when people don't just understand a concept but they see exactly how to use it in their daily work.

For example, teaching someone what a good roadmap looks like in theory is useful. Following it up with "and here's how we define roadmaps at this company: here's the template we use, here's how it connects to our strategic intents, and here's where you'll maintain it in our roadmap tool" is transformative.

This bridges the gap between theory and action, giving people a chance to put it into practice in that moment and experience what it's like to "do the work." This is what makes training stick.

What This Means for Product Leaders

Your job isn't just to send people to training. It's to ensure training teaches people how product management works in your organization.

Now, I know what many leaders think at this point: "Our situation is different. Each business unit has unique needs. We can't standardize everything." I hear this constantly. Leaders worry that their area has special requirements that conflict with the rest of the organization, so they resist defining a consistent operating model.

Here's what I've learned:

Consider standardizing things like:

• How product work connects to strategic intents, and the language around your strategy
• How you communicate strategy throughout the organization and in what format
• Basic roadmap format and cadence, and where it lives
• Decision rights at each level
• Your strategy review process
• Guidelines for discovery, testing, and releases
• How cross-functional decisions get escalated

Yes, there will be variations in execution. A platform product team may need different guidelines for prioritization than a consumer application team. But the fundamental strategy framework across the organization that fuels those prioritization guidelines can and should be consistent.

The benefits of this standardization are substantial:

• Better strategic alignment when all teams connect their work to company goals in the same way and leaders can understand ROI better
• Faster decision making when leaders can compare work across a common framework and choose the right path
• Easier collaboration across teams when everyone uses the same language and processes
• Faster onboarding for people moving between teams or joining the company
• Clearer escalation paths when everyone knows the same governance structure

Start with what matters most. Pick two or three elements of your operating model that would create the most clarity if standardized, document them, and embed them into training. You can refine and expand over time.

Embedding the Operating Model into Training

Once you've defined these elements, embed them directly into training. When you do this, people don't just learn product management, they learn how to be a PM at your company. They walk away with frameworks they can use immediately, templates they can fill out tomorrow, and clarity about who to talk to when they get stuck.

This is why we built Author Mode for our enterprise clients at Product Institute. It allows companies to integrate their own vocabulary, governance structures, processes, templates, and tools directly into our curriculum, and build off frameworks that are ready-made when they see gaps.

When organizations take this approach, the results speak for themselves. Engagement soars. Implementation accelerates. Teams develop shared language and processes. New hires ramp faster. And perhaps most importantly, product teams can focus their energy on solving customer problems instead of navigating organizational ambiguity.

Training becomes the primary way you scale your operating model across your organization. You make the implicit explicit. You turn good intentions into repeatable systems.

Where to Start

Whether you've already launched a training program or you're thinking about one, here's what I recommend:

1. Define how you want product management to work in the organization. Start with just the fundamentals that should be consistent everywhere
2. Document your templates, processes, and governance, as much as you have already. You don't need to go crazy or have everything perfect
3. Identify which elements are most important and integrate them into training first
4. Reinforce these principles by aligning across the company on your best practices

Remember: standardization doesn't mean rigidity. It means clarity. It means everyone knows the basic framework, even if execution varies by context.

Strong product organizations aren't just well-trained. They're trained on how things actually work in their specific context, with clear frameworks, templates, and processes they can use immediately.

If you're thinking through how to make your training more effective by connecting it to your operating model, reach out. I'm always happy to help you think it through.

What elements of your operating model would create the most clarity and engagement if they were explicitly taught in your training?

Until next time, Melissa Perri Founder Product Institute, Board Member, and Teacher

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