2024 was a vibe

2024 showed that public sector product management is on the rise. If we look at product management in the public sector on an adoption curve, we are close to reaching the “crossing the chasm” point in our journey. So, what are some trends and highlights from the past year in public sector product management? Here's a high-level breakdown.

— Lenae

PS—This was in “draft” before all hell broke loose in our government programs. It was hard to finish this newsletter, as every day brought unknowns into our work in the public space and our institutions. I remain committed to supporting public servants at all levels of government and folks trying to create a better future by solving impactful problems responsibly. 🇺🇸

Some 2024 public sector product management data

2024 gave us the Code for America Summit government product management panel with product leaders representing local, state, and federal governments. Attendee participation in that panel provides excellent insight into the state of public sector product management.

Attendees ranged from government product people and contractor product managers to the ‘product curious.’ Product managers are not a monolith, nor are government or product management. However, when we aggregate audience engagement data from that panel, common themes emerge for those working in product ‘ways’ in government.

First up: “What brings you to our panel today?” The room mostly fell into one of three camps regarding why they attended the session.

Most attendees expressed they were government product managers or digital leaders looking to hear from other gov’t product people’s experiences. Honestly, it was incredible to see so many folx self-identifying themselves as gov product people. Just a few years ago, that number would have been much lower. 

Most people came to learn and network with other government product people. These goals were the main inspirations for why we submitted the panel in the first place (so incredible to see that!). As product management methods grow in the public sector, more people want to connect, share ideas, and expand our public product thinking practice. This was not surprising. However, it does validate that a product community focused on the public sector, like the private sector, is needed. A dedicated space is key to creating sustainable product models in the public sector. It must account for the unique qualities of public sector product professionals.

The third reason for attending the panel was a tie. Some attendees wanted to bring product thinking to their team. Others wanted to build and scale product teams. This shows the different stages of adoption in the public sector. It showcases foundational work still at play in bringing product thinking principles into our public environments. It also shows the need for live case studies. These should showcase how product operating models can scale to the enterprise level in public sector organizations.

We also asked the audience, based on their experience - “What product management concepts were most critical for government?” These were the top five themes.

Still coming in at number is the importance of understanding who your end-users (citizens AND gov staff) are and their needs and informing solutions through user-centered design. The need to prioritize user research - talking, designing, testing with your users - and collecting feedback to inform what you do next remains critical.

Stakeholder management is a core skill area for the product management profession, but it's the key to success in government product management. This was a common point from the panel. It’s challenging to build impactful products without the coordinated engagement of a broad range of stakeholders. Like user research, you need to understand your stakeholders' goals, needs, ambitions, and decision-making power. It’s important to intentionally build relationships and trust with stakeholders, proactively engage them, and influence their behavior from top-down demands to collaborative partnerships with shared goals and outcomes.

We often refer to agility in government as "big A" Agile. This includes Scrum, SAFe, specific ceremonies and artifacts, etc. However, before that, we must commit to and live by the principles and purpose of iterative delivery. We discussed the need to increase delivery learning cycles to manage risk. Panel participants highlighted that starting small and delivering initial versions of end-to-end experiences that evolve and adapt to new inputs is crucial.

Understanding needs through problem definition was discussed as a core concept in public sector product management (as it is in the general discipline of product management). This includes identifying assumptions and creating hypotheses. It also includes prioritizing work based on potential opportunities and what needs testing to learn. Using problem definition, we also help define target outcomes to solve that need. The audience highlighted the importance of using these target outcomes to inform roadmap priorities and guide iterative delivery while balancing goals.

Bringing product management into a government means changing how teams operate and manage services and technology delivery. In the panel session, we all acknowledged that bureaucracy is complex. But effective change isn't about process; it's about people. To improve our solutions, we must cultivate a different mindset and set of behaviors while understanding and accounting for the impacts of our efforts on others. We discussed how we can't ignore the challenges other teams face that our team doesn't. Changing to a product thinking model takes time and happens in stages.

The panel attendees also ranked the top three challenges of adopting a product approach in their work or team. Here’s the output of that ranking.

In the same breath that we acknowledge change management and stakeholder engagement as keys to the success of product management in government, they are also some of the most challenging aspects of adopting product thinking and product practices in the public sector.

Challenges one and three distinguish product management in the public sector from that in the private sector.

All product folks can share, whether private or public, the continuous need to overcome challenge two: balancing leadership requests with citizen/customer needs.

The last interesting insights from participant data came from the questions submitted at the end of the panel. In our quest to bring more product thinking into government and public interest technology, we should actively answer these questions in 2025. Here are the top five questions submitted and upvoted by the audience.

Since the session wasn’t recorded (this might be my biggest regret of 2024), we can’t share the panel to watch. However, going through the attendee engagement data helps highlight what was (and is) on the minds of public sector product folks in 2024. This data also gives others context on what’s working and where additional public sector product community support is needed. Overall, it highlights growth opportunities and the need for more shared spaces to learn from one another.

Most common 2024 public sector product skill development themes

Another source of ‘state of things’ data is aggregated from the most common product topic areas I covered in my work supporting public-sector product peeps and teams in 2024. Although the sample size representing this data is small, the observable trends were interesting.

For product people—folks with some degree of product management responsibility, even if their title isn’t ‘product manager’—these were the top six skill areas most commonly focused on for development or optimization.

For product leaders—those who lead teams of people delivering technology solutions and services—these were the top six skill areas most commonly focused on for development or optimization.

Most of the teams and people I work with are working towards optimizing their product management skillsets and transforming their team (and environments) into a product operating model for the first time.

It’s interesting to see these skill development themes aggregated and cross-referenced against the panel data collected. As you can see, there are overlaps between the skills needed to enable product thinking and the product approaches required to make a product operating model successful in an organization. This highlights that to scale product models in government, we must first get the core product operating principles right. To boost the continued adoption of these practices at scale, we need to openly share examples of product operations contextualized for the public sector.

This data also highlights the growth of product management in the public sector. We’ve moved past the 'innovators' stage and are now at the 'early adopters' stage, approaching our 'crossing the chasm' moment.

This brings me to my last product data point from 2024. Hiring folks with these product management skills (as practitioners) is not enough. To make product thinking and product practices a sustainable model in the public sector, we must create conditions for them to thrive. This includes building a product mindset in existing staff, especially leaders. This also means evolving and changing team topography to align with a more empowered, cross-functional, and continuous delivery approach. Lastly, we must adopt funding models that suit iterative and outcome-focused service delivery.

Resources

2024 ICYMI Resources about Public Sector Product

2024 was also a great year for some good public sector product thinking content. Here are a few highlights from the year.

📚Jennifer Pahlka wins public sector product management champion of the 2024 - but seriously. Jennifer has been very vocal about the value of product management in public sector work and promoted the need and role of product management in her book Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better. Although the book was released in 2023, it was a continuous reference in 2024 whenever modernization and transformation topics came up.

📚Also, in 2024, Jenniffer gave us these amazing product-focused bangers. 1) Project vs Product Funding - a powerful piece taking on one of the main barriers to broader product thinking adoption in government - funding a continuous delivery model focused on people’s needs. 2) Driving Product Model Development with the Technology Modernization Fund - Day One Memo - in this memo, Jennifer and other experts express the incredible value of using TMF as a catalyst for broader product management adoption across the federal government as part of transformation efforts.

🎧 Kathy Pham has been an active voice and a real ‘OG’ in the public sector product space. From her time as a founding product and engineering member of USDS to her course Product Management and Society at Harvard, Kathy has always been a driving voice for product thinking in government. In 2024, she helped bring this work and responsible product development to a bigger stage in her interview with Melissa Perri on the ‘Product Thinking Podcast—Responsible Product Development.’ 

📚Ross Ferguson shares a deep passion with me - making public roadmaps open by default in government delivery. Check out Ross’s resource on roadmaps, why they are essential, and a repository he’s collecting of public roadmaps across digital government. 

📚One of the most practical and helpful resources of 2024 was Pooja Shaw’s ‘Core Principles of Product Launches in Government.’ If you’re building anything, public sector or not, this is incredibly useful. Bookmark her write-up.

📚Last but not least, even Marty Cagan and the SVPG wrote about the Product Model in Government - that’s when you know we’ve made it y’all when we’re a topic on SVPG.

Webinar Series

InnovateUS is running a series RIGHT NOW on adopting the product model in the public sector. It’s a two-parter. Check out the info below to watch part 1 and sign up for part 2.

📹 Part 1 - Watch the Recording - Adopting the Product Model in the Public Sector: Introduction to the Product Model

✍️ Part 2 - Sign up for the webinar - February 12, 2025, 2:00 PM ET - Adopting the Product Model in the Public Sector: Putting Outcomes First in Government IT

Impact Job Board

🗳️Product Manager for Democracy @ MapLight - online tools and research bring transparency to government data and spotlight money's outsized political influence so journalists and advocacy groups can hold lawmakers accountable.

📚Senior Product Manager @ Pocket Prep - a leading mobile and web-based learning platform offering efficient and affordable study solutions for professional certifications.

🌳 Senior Product Manager, Sustainable Investing @ Ethic - a tech-driven platform for sustainable and personalized investing.

🔋 Senior Product Manager @ ChargePoint - leading electric vehicle (EV) charging network globally.

🐝 Director of Product Management @ The Helper Bees - improving how Americans age by creating better connections between families, caregivers, and providers.

2025 will be an important year for product people in the government and public interest space. With a heightened interest in understanding the value and impact of specific efforts and our roles, our product practices need to help steward efforts forward thoughtfully while evangelizing those efforts' impact and value.

In 2025, the public sector and public interest space will need more connections, community, and shared learning and support than ever before.

Thanks for reading, and happy shipping!

Lenae 👋

*Note: I do not receive any referral bonus or compensation for promoting these roles or resources linked in this newsletter.

Shipping Impact is a newsletter produced by Lenae Storey. It provides resources, recommendations, and support for applying product thinking and product management to those working in purpose-driven organizations.

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