Most organisations dream of building products that delight users. But what happens when the users are your internal teams—and the product is the business itself? In this episode of The Product Experience, Randy Silver sits down with Jo Wickremasinghe, Chief Product & Technology Officer at BPP, to talk about leading transformation at scale.
Key Takeaways
Internal transformation is product work: Building internal tools isn't just about efficiency—it’s about enabling growth and scale without adding complexity.
Operational change requires trust: Fear of job loss or loss of control can block progress. Transparency and data-backed communication are essential for bringing teams onside.
Product operations with a purpose: A dedicated product ops team, focused on go-to-market for internal tools, helped bridge the gap between development and adoption.
Consolidation through commonality: BPP unified three distinct application workflows into one, saving time and reducing duplication while maintaining flexibility for different user needs.
Start with the most complex use case: Tackling the hardest problem first (apprenticeship applications) laid the foundation for faster delivery of simpler ones.
Involving users early matters: From paper prototypes to cohort-based rollouts, phased engagement helped ease adoption and reduce friction.
Having product and tech under one remit helps: With both product and engineering reporting into a single leader, BPP was able to make smarter trade-offs and move more quickly.
Chapters
00:00 – The risk of showing unfinished work to clients
01:00 – Jo’s path from aerospace to product leadership
03:00 – Internal tools as a vehicle for organisational change
05:00 – Bringing consistency to a fragmented education business
07:00 – The role of product ops in managing internal rollout
10:00 – Designing a universal application process
14:00 – Addressing team concerns and cultural resistance
17:00 – How change management was built into the product team
20:00 – Pilot strategy and phased rollout approach
24:00 – Engaging clients and line managers in the B2B discovery process
27:00 – Embedding the transformation approach across the business
31:00 – The importance of staying open to feedback
34:00 – Why combining product and technology leadership works
Featured links
Follow Jo on LinkedIn
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