Focus on Language, Not Frameworks
What you say can can have a greater impact than what you use
“When it works, when it works, it works. You’ll really, really, really know it.” — John Cutler
John Cutler has seen product operations from three distinct angles: externally as a thought leader writing and teaching about it, internally leading it at globally recognized brands, and now working with hundreds of product ops professionals as customers at his startup. This 360-degree view has given him an unusual perspective on what actually moves the needle.
His answer might surprise you: it’s not your frameworks, your tools, or your processes. It’s your language.
The Turn of Phrase That Changes Everything
In one meeting, John described a problem he’d observed: product managers were being asked to fill out forms from enablement, forms from the enterprise team, forms from various other groups—all drawing from the same underlying information. He gave it a name: “the 20 forms problem.”
Two days later, someone referenced it: “So the 20 forms problem, you know...” Then another person: “The 20 forms problem that we have...”
The phrase stuck. And when language sticks, change becomes possible.
“These little turns of phrase can be a really big thing,” John explains. “When you really feel the pull for the idea—this is product market fit. In some ways it’s internal product market fit.”
This is radically different from how most product ops professionals approach their work. We create comprehensive documentation. We build elaborate frameworks. We implement sophisticated tools. But we often miss the most powerful lever: creating language that gives people a shortcut to understand complex problems.
The Three Forever Problems (of Many)
John recently wrote an internal post at his startup listing “10 forever problems”—challenges that exist regardless of what tools or processes you implement. Three examples:
The Recontextualization Problem: It’s not about having a source of truth. It’s that the source of truth must be recontextualized five different ways for five different audiences. No tool solves this.
The Cognitive Load Problem: You can’t win by adding more fields, more steps, or more “perfect” processes. A company is lucky to get one or two or three things right every quarter from an organizational flow standpoint. Anything more fights against human cognitive limits.
The Official vs. Real Problem: There’s the official way of working, the real way of working, the idealized real way, and the idealized future way. You can’t eliminate this gap by writing better SOPs. In fact, trying to lock everything down kills tomorrow’s innovations, which are currently happening underground as “subversive behavior.”
Understanding these forever problems changes how you approach product ops. You stop trying to solve the unsolvable and start working with the dynamics instead of against them.
The Model-Making Business
John describes product ops as being in “the model-making business”—creating mental models that help people understand your work quickly.
The technique: Pick 3-5 stable pillars for your work (maybe efficiency, partnerships, team capability) and stick with them across quarters. Your tactics and allocation might shift, but the words remain constant.
“You’ve picked the right model if you can be revisiting the same words over and over again,” John notes. “You can’t keep creating new words all the time for people to latch onto.”
This requires testing language with stakeholders, watching their eyes to see if concepts land, and being willing to abandon phrases that don’t resonate—even if they’re technically accurate. One team discovered “efficiency” didn’t inspire anyone. “Friction” implied all friction was bad. They landed on “removing low-leverage busy work”—and that became the scaffold for quarters of strategic communication.
When You Know It’s Working (And When It’s Not)
John shared a stark contrast. He’d been giving presentations that attracted only die-hard change agents. Then he co-presented with a colleague named Jane on “enabling constraints.” Within an hour, five Slack messages appeared: “Could you come do that with our group?”
That’s product market fit. Not polite acknowledgment (”That’s interesting, thanks”). Not “Let me get back to you on that.” Real pull feels unmistakable.
The warning signs of what’s not working are equally clear:
Small vocal minority latches on privately but won’t publicly align
Senior leaders give curious but cautious responses: “Do you really think that?”
You feel yourself getting emotionally invested in being right
You’re getting pulled into pet projects that have never worked before at the company
Two Key Takeaways for Product Operations Leaders
1. Test Your 60-Second Strategic Narrative Relentlessly
Can you articulate your three work streams, what problems you’re solving, and how it connects to company priorities in under two minutes? Have you tested it with 10 different people and watched their reactions?
Action step: Record yourself delivering your product ops overview. Watch it back. Is it clear? Does it use stable language people can remember? Does it connect to business priorities? If not, rewrite and test with three stakeholders this week. Repeat until you see genuine pull.
2. Stop Creating Frameworks, Start Creating Language
Your job isn’t building the perfect prioritization model. It’s identifying the “20 forms problem” in your organization and giving it a name that helps everyone see it clearly.
Action step: Spend the next week listening for recurring pain points. When you hear the same issue described three different ways by three different people, create a memorable phrase for it. Test it in your next meeting. If people start using it back to you within days, you’ve found something real.
The Hardest Part: Constant Hat-Switching
When asked what’s hardest about product ops, John points to relentless context-switching between different frames: operator mode, strategic advisor, change agent, platform builder, service designer.
His solution? A literal reminder by his desk asking: “What hat are you wearing now?”
And perhaps most importantly: “If you’re sitting in the thick of it, you need to rest harder than other people.”
The next time you’re tempted to solve a problem with a new tool or process, pause. Ask instead: what’s the language that would help people see this problem clearly? That might be your highest-leverage move.
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*John Cutler writes a weekly newsletter exploring product operations, organizational dynamics, and systems thinking. After roles at Amplitude and Toast, he now works with product operations teams daily at Dotwork. Find him on LinkedIn or subscribe to his newsletter.*