Highlights from August’s ProductTank meetups

ProductTanks, created by Mind the Product, are informal meetups that bring local product people together and provide a space to new speakers to share amazing product insights. In this article, you will find highlighted a few of the 34 meetups that were held in August with topics ranging from the importance of data to how to build product responsibly. 

We were also delighted to welcome back ProductTank Malta and Mexico City! And, despite being a ‘quiet’ summer month, ProductTank Dubai had the highest attended meet up- what an achievement!

Matthew Farrugia, one of ProductTank Malta organisers and staff product manager at Nium, shared his thoughts after the first meetup.

'Product Tank Malta organized an engaging meetup open to all product enthusiasts on the island. Despite Malta's relatively small population, the local tech industry remains vibrant and active. The event was well-attended. This turnout highlights the clear demand for professionals to step out of their day-to-day environments and engage with others to share diverse approaches to product management.

The meetup featured a stellar panel of speakers:

Beyond the panel, the audience was a rich mix of experienced professionals, including product managers, directors ofpProduct, entrepreneurs, and other tech experts from a variety of industries, including FinTech, Gaming, SaaS, Banking, HrTech, and HealthTech. Our discussions delved deeply into both Product Discovery and Delivery practices, the role of the customer throughout the product lifecycle, and the intricacies of roadmapping, planning, and execution. Key insights were shared on the essential skills needed to move across industries (spoiler alert - much of it boils down to the right attitude and a strong cultural fit within teams).

Following the panel discussion, we shifted to smaller group sessions, where participants had the opportunity to connect more personally and exchange insights on the challenges they face. Unsurprisingly, common pain points emerged—namely the balancing act between discovery and delivery, and the ever-present challenge of stakeholder alignment. The session wrapped up with a Q&A, followed by a round of takeaways.
A special thank you to Nium for hosting the event at their bright offices in San Ġwann.

The word "community" was top of mind as I prepared this write-up. Throughout our lives, we often learn and grow in group settings—whether in classrooms, with friends and family, or within companies. Yet, for product teams, this collaborative dynamic is often missing. How do other teams approach product strategy? Is there a more effective way to structure an organization to deliver faster results? These are crucial questions, yet they often remain confined within internal discussions, which can only yield limited insights. That's where Mind The Product steps in, creating communities of product professionals across the globe. By breaking down company silos and fostering spaces for shared learning, these communities
are vital for advancing the product management profession and amplifying its impact on businesses and society.

A huge thanks to Luke Vella, staff product manager at Lokalise, who inspired me to join the organizing team and help bring this event to life. The Maltese product community may be small, but it's brimming with potential and brilliant minds making a real.'

From ProductTank Katmandu page 'We had an incredible meetup at The British College! Huge thanks to John B. Park for his gracious presence and an insightful talk on using data to make product decisions.

We’re also grateful to everyone who joined us. Your enthusiasm and support is what moves the community forward!'

José Francisco Valiente, a senior product manager at IBM, shared his key takeaways following the meetup:

‘Tonight I attended a product management event at Levi’s a stadium. 🚀 Here are my three takeaways:

Special thanks to Sree Sankar & Brian Walsh, for sharing your journey and great product insights, and to Pendo.io and ProductTank for organizing!'

Angus Allan, a senior product manager at CreateFuture, shared his experience of talking at ProductTank Edinburgh: 'Thank you, ProductTank Edinburgh and FanDuel, for having me this evening to talk about Product Thinking for Responsible GenAI.

A last-minute schedule change meant I shared the stage with my 19-month-old daughter, and I appreciate the support and understanding of the audience! At an event all about building better products for the future, it hopefully reminds us exactly who will be impacted by the products we build for decades to come.

Slides will be released shortly but my key points are:

Keep an eye out on my newsletter at AIAngus.com for more actionable content about building responsible products and strategies, and also for more details on my upcoming talks.’

Anthony Marter, our ProductTank Auckland organiser, wrote: 'What an awesome vibe at tonight's ProductTank Auckland event featuring the fantastic 🎯 Tasneem Gould sharing what she learned from attending Marty Cagan's recent Transformed workshop! It was a full house in this very cool venue provided by Devoli and arranged by Jan Behrens - many thanks for hosting and sponsoring the food and drinks.

A big thanks to the volunteers who made this event possible - Jesica Iskandar Rahul Singh, Weichun Wang, and Wai Loong Tham. Special acknowledgement to David Stokes for providing and running the AV gear for the livestreaming and PA in the room. And a shout-out to Amit Godbole 🚀 our APAC region Mind the Product contact for some last minute tech help from afar which enabled us to resolve a problem which threatened to stop the livestreaming from working.

One observation from tonight's event is that we managed to pull this together at short notice due to connections formed at Orion Health. There are so many folks out there doing fantastic things in various NZ technology orgs and communities who spent some of their career working at Orion, and they have one thing in common which is a willingness to contribute to growing the NZ community. We're hugely grateful to the orgs who realise the value of growing the community, and contribute both directly and indirectly to this.'

Bruce McCarthy, author and founder of Product Culture, was one of the speakers at our Buenos Aires meetup, where he talked about aligning your stakeholders.

'Gabriel Borges giving us a great overview of Amazon's product team tenets at last night's amazing ProductTank Buenos Aires.

Warming up the crowd for me and Alejandro Dao from Pendo.io. Thanks to Guido Lonetti for organizing!

If you missed your chance to download the Stakeholder Canvas and other tools from my new book 'Aligned':

Download the tools: https://lnkd.in/e3Arsz2G'

We welcomed back ProductTank Mexico City and Marco Fernández shared his impressions:
'ProductTank in Mexico returns with amazing event! 🎉

🦾This time, in addition to discovering AI trends for product managers with Alejandro Dao, senior product manager at Pendo, we had the opportunity to learn through Bruce McCarthy, author of the book "Aligned" how to lead successful projects and managing stakeholders.

🧠He shared fundamental strategies for stakeholder management, starting with the importance of understanding their hidden needs from the outset. He highlighted the significance of involving stakeholders in roadmap planning, ensuring that their contributions are integrated into the project and they adopt it as their own.

🥷🏻In addition, he emphasized that an effective leader must 'guide from behind', acting more like a facilitator than a dictator.

🕵🏻 One of the most intriguing pieces of advice was the importance of identifying who truly holds power within an organization. This figure often doesn't align with the person in the highest position on the organizational chart. It's crucial to ensure these key individuals are aligned with the project's goals before proceeding. He also shared techniques for fostering an environment of trust within the team, enabling concerns about the project to be openly expressed. All of this is aimed at ensuring the project's success for both you and your stakeholders.

A lot of learning to put into practice!

A big thank you to Victor Rico for the invitation and to the amazing team at #ProductTankMéxico for making this event possible, a pleasure to connect in person!'

We are gearing up for a very busy September, so make sure you don’t miss out on these free community events! Check out a ProductTank near you.