A maturing product operating model

Modern product development shows clear signs of progress. Several practices that were aspirational a decade ago are now widely adopted. The key question is no longer whether teams adopt these practices, but whether they change how decisions are made when trade-offs appear. 

 

One of the strongest signals is cross-disciplinary collaboration. Most respondents report that product managers, designers, and engineers work closely throughout delivery rather than in isolated phases.

Another positive signal is alignment between product goals and company objectives. Many teams report that their work is clearly connected to broader business priorities. High collaboration is now common. This reflects a move away from handoffs toward shared responsibility, especially in product-centric teams.

Alignment to company goals is increasingly common, but it does not guarantee clarity or good decisions. Several teams report strong alignment while still struggling to prioritize effectively. The difference lies in whether alignment is translated into clear, actionable product decisions, something product-centric teams tend to do more consistently.

 

At the same time, shared values have evolved. Data protection and security are no longer treated as specialist concerns, but as part of everyday product work.

Principles around security, privacy, and accessibility are now widely adopted. Most teams consider security and data protection fundamental. This reflects growing awareness of trust as a product outcome, not just a technical requirement.

Broad agreement suggests designing for inclusion, accessibility and avoiding biased assumptions are becoming standard expectations rather than optional add-ons.These developments show real progress. 

 

The wide adoption of these standard practices is a sign of a more mature product market, but the key differentiators are not the standard practices but rather how to make good product decisions. From our experience this is driven by culture which we will dive into in the next section.