Navigating Product Management in Complex Organisations through Constellations

Navigating Product Management in Complex Organisations through Constellations

In a recent podcast conversation with Matt from Lost Tempo, Mike shared some surprising truths about product management that can fundamentally change how you approach product development in complex organisations. Here’s a breakdown of the key takeaways that might just make you rethink your entire product strategy.

Key Takeaways

1. The Product Isn’t Just the Thing You Make- It’s the System You Build
   Product management isn’t just about creating software, apps, or even experiences. It’s the system you create in and around those products. We're not just building digital products like an app for a bank or internal tools for sales teams, we're building systems of value. The term "product" is also about how you organize, connect, and execute across your business. Once you understand this, every decision becomes a piece of a larger system.
   
   

2. Stop Talking About “Product Mindset”- Start Talking About a “Product Model”
   The "product mindset" is important, but it’s just the beginning. What you need is a product model; a framework that links strategy, opportunity management, and delivery. If you want to drive real change in a complex organization, a product model is a concrete, operational structure that helps you connect everything, from business models to how products actually get delivered. It’s the difference between wishing for change and having a roadmap to make it happen.
   
   

3. Don’t Just Build Products, Build Product Ecosystems
   In complex organizations, you can’t treat each product as a standalone entity. Products don’t exist in isolation. They are all part of a bigger ecosystem. If you don't see how these products interconnect and support one another, you're missing out on massive opportunities to create synergies. The key to success is understanding the interconnectedness between products. When they don’t talk to each other, it’s like a broken system, and that's costing you.
   
   

4. The Real Magic Happens in the Middle, Where Strategy Meets Execution
   Too many organizations focus exclusively on the delivery or engineering side of product development, or they obsess over the strategic vision without connecting it to delivery. But the real magic happens in the middle. This is where strategy, opportunity management, and delivery intersect. If you're not focusing on this part, you're missing the essence of a product model that ensures alignment and creates value. It's the space where products start to work together effectively. Hence the term ‘Constellations’ (of north stars).
   
   

5. Service Design Isn’t Just for UX - It’s the Key to Unifying Your Product Portfolio
   Service design is often thought of as a tool for UX / design teams, but it’s much more powerful than that. It's a strategic tool that allows you to align your product portfolio with your broader business strategy. Tools like service blueprints are essential to visualizing how different products within your ecosystem connect and how value flows between them. Without this kind of visibility, you will build products that lack coherence and purpose.
   
   

6. Forget “Ownership”- Product Management Needs P&L Responsibility
   Product managers need to stop being just "product owners" in the traditional (or technical) sense. If you want to create real impact, product management needs to have P&L responsibility (profit and loss ownership). Without this, you’re essentially just building products without the necessary authority to steer them toward real business results. If you aren’t responsible for the bottom line, you’re not in control of your product's destiny.
   
   

7. Silos Are Killing Your Product Strategy. Break Them Down NOW
   If your product teams, engineering, and delivery teams aren’t co-owning the product, you're setting yourself up for failure. Product development in large organizations is full of silos, with endless roles and responsibilities that are unclear, resulting in teams not working toward the same goals. If you want to make progress, you need to tear down those silos. The product model you adopt needs to be shared across the business so that everyone is aligned and working towards the same outcomes.

8. Building New Products Might Be Your Biggest Mistake; Ask “Do We Even Need This?”
   The urge to build something new can often cloud your judgment. Don’t just build for the sake of building. Instead, start by asking: Do we even need this new product? Sometimes the best solution isn’t building something new but streamlining existing processes, or using what's already available. Innovation isn’t always about creating new things, sometimes it's about making the most of what you’ve already got.
   

9. Why gumboots are my favourite product of all time

   It sounds silly but they have lasted a long time, served me whenever I need them without even thinking about it, and the best part is they just work!
   

Take a listen here: https://tempo.substack.com/p/mike-biggs-product-constellations