Why you should build an HR Product Council, not an HR strategy

TL;DR: Decks don't ship outcomes. An HR Product Council turns HR priorities into decisions, capacity, and visible releases with OKRs, stage gates, and change logs that keep everyone honest.

What's an HR Product Council (and why it's not "just another meeting")

A Product Council is a cross-functional group that meets regulalary to set direction, allocate resources, and clear any blockers so that work can move forward. In this case, resources are applied in an HR context where the "HR products" could be onboarding, performance management, job architecture, learning, or leadership development. The Council's job is to discuss tradeoffs in the open, together, and align and publish what's shipping next.

Why HR needs this now

• There are too many priorities and not enough decisions that last. Having a single forum not only aligns executives on what HR will deliver each quarter, but also helps make clear what it won't. It's more actionable than an HR strategy.

• It can be challenging to come up with OKRs and quantifiable measures of accountability across the function. Tie HR bets to measurable objectives and measure progress regularly.

• Fewer zombie projects through stage gates. Move work from idea → discovery → beta release → general availability → sunset, all with explicitly defined go/no-go criteria.

• Boost trust in the function with transparent change magement. Roadmaps and change logs tell all employees and leaders what changed and why.

Who sits on the council

• Chair: CHRO

• Members: HRIT/People Tech, People Analytics, Finance, Legal, HR Product Owners, ERG representation, and a rotating senior leader from outside HR

• Why this mix: Authority to allocate funds, data readiness to make informed choices, and a diverse set of voices to de-risk decisions.

Operating rhythm

• Quarterly: Review and reset funding/capacity, approve and refresh HR OKRs, set strategic portfolio bets.

• Monthly: Review upcoming releases, risks, and bottlenecks; move items through stage gates; and publish revised change logs and updated roadmaps.

What outcomes does it deliver

1. HR portfolio OKRs that everybody can see

2. A roadmap with current stage gate statuses

3. Release notes and change log for each shipped update

This isn't a new HRLT. The HRLT is hierarchy based and focussed on managing people and the org structure.

A Product Council manages products and outcomes.