At first glance, the shift toward product thinking may seem tailor-made for teams working on customer-facing digital products, like mobile apps or eCommerce experiences, where new features are envisioned in lockstep with business units that have P&L responsibility. But what about teams maintaining enterprise applications like SAP and Salesforce? Or those responsible for shared APIs, IT Ops, and core platforms, which serve multiple product teams rather than direct customers?
If these questions resonate, you’re not alone. Many organizations transitioning to a product operating model encounter a moment of reckoning, where technology professionals accustomed to a service-oriented approach begin questioning where they fit. The reality is that while the implementation of product thinking varies depending on the type of work, there are core principles that apply universally. Proactively addressing these nuances is key to ensuring adoption, mitigating resistance, and maximizing impact.
Three types of teams in a product operating model
To successfully adopt a product operating model across the technology function, it’s critical to recognize that not all teams will work in the same way. The model applies broadly, but the composition of work, customer relationships, and team structure will vary based on the type of product being supported.
Product teams focus on customer-facing or business-aligned products—solutions designed for direct end-users, whether external customers, employees, or partners. These teams operate in close collaboration with business units, iterating on features that enhance experiences and drive revenue. Because they are continuously evolving their offerings, product teams typically allocate the highest proportion of their efforts to grow and transform work—building new capabilities, improving customer experiences, and responding to emerging market demands—while still maintaining the core functionality of their products.
Platform teams provide shared capabilities, APIs, and infrastructure that support multiple product teams. Their customers are often internal, ensuring that foundational technology services—such as data platforms, authentication systems, or integration layers—are scalable and reusable. The nature of their work is more evenly distributed across run, grow, and transform activities, as they must balance maintaining system stability with improving and expanding the services they offer to product teams.
Services teams maintain critical technology operations, supporting both internal users and other product teams. Unlike product teams that focus on innovation, services teams prioritize run activities—ensuring uptime, compliance, and operational efficiency—while still making measured improvements over time. Their primary responsibility is to keep core capabilities and infrastructure reliable while adapting to business needs and regulatory changes.
Beyond work allocation, these teams also differ in who they serve. Product teams work closest to revenue-generating customers, continuously improving their experience. Platform teams serve internal product teams, providing the foundational services that enable scalable innovation. Services teams support internal business users and the rest of the technology organization, ensuring critical enterprise functions run smoothly.
What stays the same? Core principles across teams
While the scope of work varies, all product-oriented teams share fundamental principles that drive alignment, agility, and accountability.
Every team operates against a proactive, long-term roadmap that ensures continuous improvement rather than reactive project execution. Whether delivering a customer-facing experience, maintaining a data platform, or supporting enterprise technology services, teams work with a strategic view of how their domain evolves.
Each team balances two complementary focuses: working on the business, which drives innovation and efficiency, and working in the business, which ensures the successful delivery of day-to-day operational needs. This ensures that even services teams, which spend more time on operational stability, are still evolving their capabilities rather than just maintaining them.
Regardless of the type of product a team supports, they all operate with common ways of working, typically inspired by agile methodologies. Structured sprints, iterative delivery, and continuous alignment with business stakeholders ensure that teams remain responsive and adaptable while maintaining consistency across the enterprise.
Driving adoption: Leadership’s role in managing the shift
If you’re leading the shift to a product operating model, anticipating these nuances and addressing concerns early will be essential. A key first step is clarifying roles and responsibilities so that technology service teams understand their continued relevance and how their work aligns with the new model.
Defining success metrics tailored to each team type ensures that performance is measured in a way that reflects their contributions. Adoption, uptime, and customer experience are all critical, but the specific emphasis will vary based on whether a team is customer-facing, platform-focused, or service-oriented.
Encouraging cross-team collaboration is equally important. A strong product operating model is not about isolating teams but about fostering an ecosystem where platform teams, enterprise application teams, and product teams work in tandem. Aligning their priorities and reinforcing shared ways of working will drive efficiency and long-term success.
Final thought: The product model is for everyone
The transition to a product operating model isn’t just for digital-first teams—it’s for all of technology. Whether your team is building customer-facing products, enabling developers with reusable platforms, or maintaining critical enterprise applications, the fundamental principles of product thinking apply universally.
Read More from This Article: The 3 types of teams in the product operating model
Source: News