Writing · Essay · Local
A product is also an operating model
To change a product durably, design both surfaces — the one users touch, and the one that produces it.
Every product is two things at once. There is the product the user experiences — the surfaces, the words, the response to a click. And there is the operating model that produces it: the boundaries between teams, the rituals around deploys, the policies that decide what is reviewed and what is not.
You can change the surface without changing the model, but the surface will quietly drift back toward the shape the model wants to produce. This is why so many redesigns feel temporary.
To change a product durably, design both.