Passive Impact Monitoring of Product Ops

When surveys are not appropriate

Measuring Product Ops - it’s still not straightforward! There are more methodologies to experiment with now compared to a year ago when I launched my NPS/CSAT matrix as an attempt to bring some measure and clarity.

Lucy Pitticas-Rothwell recently posted what she is working with at FreeAgent to more accurately measure what they do.

In my matrix, I split the measuring between KPIs - lagging indicators, and forward-looking, project-focused OKRs. The OKRs, or similar target-focused outcomes, are certainly easier to measure as they are tailored to a project, product or outcome, and less standardised across an industry (or expected to be).

In short, you set a goal, take some action, measure the impact as progress towards that goal (and intervene if that goal is not being hit). Those measure are of things that change usually, hopefully, positively and in the direction you want them to go (up/down/level out) - and once you have taken the actions to move the needle, you kinda ‘sit back and watch what happens’ (not literally, of course). These are passive outcomes, passive impacts - you are not actively taking actions continuously, incrementally improving things (you are elsewhere!). Similar to a passive income - you buy a house and rent it out, you set up at the start and by and large you receive a passive income as rent. Micro investing is (usually) the same.

This becomes a versatile and low-effort way to monitor the impact Product Ops is having on the business, and is flexible to the needs and setup of each individual business.

Passive Outcomes and Impact

Below are some examples of actions/metrics to monitor that are usually passive once a change or improvement has been made. Individually, small fry, but cumulatively adds up to real change for a product division and a business.

It’s worth noting that there are common trends in metrics, that typically see spikes in improvement at different intervals with or without intervention, as well as a ‘settling’ - which is either the natural level (because some metrics cannot increase or decrease forever - average page usage for example, or hit zero!) Or require the next iteration of change. These settling points are usually a key part of the goal/outcome, and are what you are individually happy with

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Enough on the theory, here are some examples, with what good looks like: