Ambassador Spotlight: Will’s Playbook for Driving Change and Championing Tools

Will Prine didn’t plan on becoming a product manager. But in hindsight, it’s no surprise.

From leading support and billing teams to spearheading tool rollouts across a growing product org, Will has always been the one connecting dots, keeping momentum, and chasing clarity. 

Today, he’s a product manager focused on reporting and integrations for North Hospitality and he still plays a hands-on role in championing tools like Productboard across the company.

We sat down with Will to talk about his transition from product ops to product management, how to make change stick, and why caring deeply (and being a little relentless) is part of the job.

Will’s Top 3 Takeaways for Product and Ops Leaders

1. Every tool needs a champion

Rolling out new systems—especially in a scrappy, fast-paced environment—requires more than documentation. Will learned early that adoption lives or dies by who’s leading the charge.

“Productboard is our CRM for product managers. I trained every team (sales, support, etc.) and gave them enablement docs, follow-ups, whatever they needed to make it stick…

 I still do training for new hires. I probably should have handed it off by now, but I care too much to let go.”

2. Product ops and product management are closer than you think

Will made the leap from product ops to product management, but he still brings the same energy: cross-functional communication, tooling leadership, and an eye for scalability.

“Product ops was like herding sheep. Product management is like homework. But the audiences are the same and the skills overlap way more than people think. In ops, I did a lot of training and facilitation. In PM, I’m still running stakeholder sessions, but now it’s PRDs instead of feature walkthroughs.”

3. Momentum is a skill. Build it and protect it.

Momentum isn’t just about speed—it’s about clarity, consistency, and care. Whether it’s launching a tool, aligning a team, or closing a feedback loop, Will brings the kind of drive that turns intent into impact.

“I’m the annoying person who says, ‘Hey, remember we wanted to do this?’ I keep the conversations alive and make sure we actually finish what we start. My boss used to laugh because I’d chase vendors down before we’d even approved the budget. I was just excited to get moving.”

Q&A with Will

Q: What do you work on today?

Will: I’m a product manager for reporting and integrations on our restaurant point-of-sale system. I manage UI improvements, build dashboards, and help maintain the long list of integrations with partners in the restaurant space. It’s a lot of moving parts, internal and external, and it keeps things interesting. 

Q: How did you get into product work?

Will: I started in restaurants, then landed a support agent role during COVID. I got promoted fast from support, to billing, to team lead, and eventually got tapped by a new product leader who said, “You’re doing product ops. Want to make it official?” I said yes. That was my first role in product.

Q: What was your first win in product ops?

Will: We didn’t have product tools. We were using Google Sheets as a roadmap. So I researched tools, chased down vendors, and got us on Figma, Mixpanel, and Productboard. I even onboarded our parent org. Eventually, we split workspaces because our workflows diverged, but that early ownership helped everything stick. 

Q: What’s your take on the difference between product ops and PM?

Will: Product ops is a lot of facilitation: note taking, tool rollouts, aligning people. PM feels more like research and creative problem-solving. But there’s a lot of overlap: in both roles, you need to be organized, communicative, and good at zooming out.

Q: What advice would you give someone moving into product?

Will: Ask questions. That’s the best habit. Don’t assume you know what the user wants, even if you come from their world. Have a list of questions ready. Let the conversation lead you somewhere new. And don’t be afraid to imagine a different way.

Q: What’s your favorite Productboard feature?

Will: Insight automations. The longer we’ve used Productboard, the more we’ve layered in automation—and it’s made our feedback richer and easier to manage. We don’t have Pulse yet, but we want it. The AI would take our vague feedback and help coalesce it into something usable.

Q: What made Productboard adoption work on your team?

Will: We treated it like a real rollout. I led sessions for each team, made slide decks, created SOPs, and reinforced everything. Productboard became our source of truth.

I told our PMs: “Don’t write PRDs in Docs. Write them in Productboard. Make it your home base.”

Q: Why did you join the Productboard Ambassador Program?

Will: I was already acting as our internal ambassador. I’d copy every release post from Linda in the beta workspace, paste it in our Slack, and walk the team through it. I loved the tool, and I wanted to be part of the feedback loop shaping it. 

Care, connect the dots, and chase what matters.

Will’s journey reminds us that you don’t need a traditional background—or even job title—to lead product change. You just need to care, connect the dots, and chase what matters.

Want to connect with Will and more leaders like him?

Join the Productboard Ambassador Program →