Denise Tilles
Product leader, coach, and consultant. Co-founder and partner at Produx Labs (alongside Melissa Perri), where she teaches the Product Operations Masterclass and advises companies on product vision, strategy, and execution. Co-author of Product Operations: How Successful Companies Build Better Products at Scale (2023).
Tilles brings an operating background to the product practice — she has led PM and analyst teams and has direct experience running go-to-market co-ordination, cross-functional alignment, and product ops rollouts at enterprise level. Her perspective emphasises the importance of high EQ and systems thinking in making product operations functions sustainable.
Background
Career spans media (Condé Nast) and technology. Has worked inside large organisations managing product and analytics teams before moving into consulting and coaching. Collaborates closely with Melissa Perri at Produx Labs, co-teaching the Product Operations Masterclass since 2020.
Key positions
- Product ops is fundamentally about increasing the speed and quality of product decision making, not creating overhead.
- The customer and market insights pillar is the least understood of the three product ops pillars, and represents the biggest growth opportunity for most companies.
- Go-to-market co-ordination is a consistent pain point product ops can address by breaking down silos between product, sales, and support.
- The right first hire for the process and practices pillar needs high EQ, systems-thinking ability, and enough product experience to understand what PMs actually need — not simply an agile background.
- “If you try to serve everybody, you serve no one” — focus on a specific persona (applies to product strategy and team culture alike).