Christine Itwaru
Christine Itwaru is a product operations leader at Pendo, where she built and ran the product ops function from its founding in 2019. Former product manager; transitioned to product ops after recognising the need for a system to support PM effectiveness at scale. Writes at productcraft.com. Based in the US.
Key ideas
- Product ops dual definition: a system OR a person — the role doesn’t require headcount to exist; any strong product leader can instantiate it as a process.
- PM’s sacred responsibility: direct time with customers is the one thing product ops must never absorb.
- Systems first, then automate, then advise: build the system, hand it off, move to strategy. Communicate this arc at hire to avoid role confusion.
- Transparency vs. readiness: knowing something is coming ≠ knowing what to do with it. Product ops bridges that gap internally.
- Engineers to customers: bringing engineers into customer meetings is a high-impact, low-effort change that improves PM-engineering alignment and product quality.
Appearances
| Source | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Christine Itwaru on Product Operations | ~2022 | Product ops definition; VOC management; Pendo launch story; career path; transparency vs. readiness |