Highlights from July’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. With over 200 cities hosting ProductTanks globally, in this article we will highlight a few of the 33 meetups that were held in July with topics ranging from Product in the age of AI to burnout.

In July, we also welcomed back ProductTank Canberra, after a long break, and we said goodbye to one of our London ProductTank organisers: Iryna Struk and we would like once again to thank Iryna for her hard work, dedication, and support over the last 3 years!

Welcome back, Canberra! Read Adriana Voegeli's summary: 'What a great evening! #ProductTankCanberra is back in full swing after its long Covid break! 🎉

The event was a great success, bringing together the Product community in Canberra eager to learn and connect. 🚀

A special shoutout to our two amazing speakers:

🌟 Amber Standley who introduced us to her playbook for early adopter programs, providing valuable insights and practical strategies.

🌟 Vi Nguyen who give us insights into two different ways on how create a strategy; top-down and bottom-up, and shared practical examples on when to use which.

A big thank you goes to our sponsors:

🙏 Pendo.io and Chris McCarney who provided delicious food and drinks.

🙏 Canberra Innovation Network for the location with a special thank you to Belinda Stokes for the amazing support before and during the event!

🙌 And of course, to everyone who came and contributed to the success of this event!'

Diego Uzuelli, Senior Product Manager at Cogtive, shared his experience of attending ProductTank São Paulo: ‘This week I had the privilege of participating in another edition of Mind the Product - ProductTank SP, and the theme this time was Customer Focus: Transforming products and results.

A hot topic, very relevant to our area, brilliantly showcased by the cases presented by Marcos Paulo Coelho (Itaú Unibanco ), Aline Martins (QuintoAndar ) and Beatriz Costa (RD Station ). They put on a show 👏

A full house at the Itaú Unibanco 's auditorium, and a very attentive audience.

I saw several posts from those who attended and it's really cool to see the product community engaged and sharing events like this so that more people will join the next meetups.

And today I want to highlight the work of those who organize all this: do you know the work it takes to put on an event of this size? And even more, a free one? Only those who have organized an event know…

So it never hurts to say: congratulations and thank you once again to Eric Nogare, Leonardo Pabon and Marcelo Missagia for all this rush! Know that I learn a lot in these meetings and I hope to be able to repay the match one day. 🤝

And congratulations also to Camila Hakim Lorenzi, with whom I also learned in another edition of ProductTank and who ensured this edition happened.

Read Nataly Tirapegui commentary after attending ProductTank Chile: ''Wednesday I attended Product Tank Chile, organised by 🚀 Thomas Vidaurre. The talks were spectacular and I learned a lot from the incredible speakers: Daniela M. and Pablo Lobos 👏

These events have solidified my decision to pursue a career as a Product Manager. I left feeling completely inspired and eager to continue contributing to the creation of successful products that genuinely provide solutions for users.

Special thanks to Amazon Web Services (AWS) Santiago for opening their doors to us and allowing these wonderful talks to happen.

I will definitely continue to participate in these instances! 🚀 '

Ignacio Mietes, one of our Buenos Aires ProductTank organisers, wrote:

'More and more people are joining #ProductTankBA, and we are thrilled to see the community grow day by day. Thank you, Tomas Gurovich + Lucas de la Torre for the presentations, and Verónica Vargas and Carina Lacour  for the impeccable organization.'

The talented Anna-Lena Koenig, one of our Zurich ProductTank organisers, shared a post summarising the Zurich meetup alongside a beautiful sketch:

At yesterday's ProductTank Zürich meetup, Todd Olson shared some insights on 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐈.

During the event, I took visual notes from his talk and the lively discussion with our community.

It was well worth spending a nice summer evening inside 😎

And I enjoyed our conversations Nina Maurer Catarina Martins Simões Michael John Alexander Schmidtpeter Christoph Schönenberger Valeria Khokhlova....... 🤩

Special thanks to Sebastian Bossung for hosting the event at JobCloud!

One of the speakers at ProductTank Pittsburgh, Mustafa Kapadia shared the below:

"Whether we like it or not, AI is going to change the way product managers will work. This is just the new future. And yes, while we're very much early in the stages of revolution, this is where things are going."

That is how I started my talk about the Future of Product Managers with AI at ProductTank Pittsburgh.

When product managers master AI, they enjoy the following 3 benefits

1. Save time = more time for strategic initiatives or better work life balance

2. Impress stakeholders = Better quality work, more creative, and "easy button" to level up skills

3. Advance your career = Become more marketable or at the very least future proof it.

Special thanks to Betsy Irizarry and Nick Yingling for inviting me. It was a blast.

I'll post the entire talk shortly. But in the meantime, what do you think. Is AI going to change the way PMs work? And if so how?'

Phil Osmond attended ProductTank Bristol, you can read his experience:

'Great to be back in sunny Bristol again earlier this week for ProductTank Bristol 🔥

The ever smiley Evie Brockwell shared her recent research on burnout in product management as well as what to do about it.

Did you know 99% of people asked experienced factors associated with burnout, even if they didn’t join the 48% who did admit to having been burned out?

As product people we are drawn to work hard, take ownership, and easily overburden ourselves. But it need not be that way!

I agree with Evie when she says it all starts with self awareness. What drives us? What triggers us? How can we centre and self-regulate ourselves?

Much to consider and great to catch up with various people 🚀.' 

Great write up from one of the organisers, Stephen Wang, a Product Advisor.

'🆘 𝐀𝐈 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 🆘

AI technology is increasingly being exploited by hackers and fraudsters, causing significant damage to individuals, businesses, and government organizations. Recently, ProductTank Bellevue invited industry expert Manjari Vadlapatla to share her insights on privacy and security in AI/ML.

𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐑𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐭: In 2018, TaskRabbit experienced a data breach where an AI-enabled botnet compromised over 3.75 million user records, highlighting how AI can be weaponized for malicious purposes.

𝐘𝐮𝐦! 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬: In January 2023, Yum! Brands faced a ransomware attack, suspected to have used AI to automate data theft, demonstrating the advanced tactics of AI-driven ransomware.

These incidents underscore the critical need for robust AI security measures. Here are Manjari’s key recommendations:

🔹 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲: Shift from reactive to proactive AI security measures, using AI for threat hunting and vulnerability prediction.

🔹 𝐀𝐈 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Emphasize ethical AI development and adherence to emerging regulations to ensure responsible AI use in cybersecurity.

🔹 𝐀𝐈-𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Use AI to automate routine security tasks, freeing human analysts to tackle complex threats and make strategic decisions.

To learn more about developing secure products in the AI age, you can watch the live recording here.'

From the ProductTank Cardiff page:. '🚘 Thanks to Admiral Pioneer our amazing hosts, great location and office - with a bar 🍻! Massive 👏 to Tom Casey for organising and all those who helped including Dipika Patel, Harry Roter, Alex Campbell-Reeves, Michelle Orchison & Katie Joy Haylock!

💪Thanks to Vargo Group as our sponsors for 2024 and their ongoing support to make all our events happen.

🗣️ Huge thanks to Chris Massey - Senior Product Manager for sharing so much about Transformation including:

> The spectrum - with some parts easier than others and it's a lot of hard work

> The word transformation is used but it can sometime mean just tech overhaul and that the world on the other side will be magical

> Getting people to change is difficult with the operational approach and culture taking time and effort

> 4 horsemen of transformation and how to focus on those to drive the success

📚 ☕ Congratulations to our winner Alex who walked away with a Product Management book and one of the limited edition 2024 ProductTank Cardiff mugs

😁 Thanks to all of the attendees, it's always great to see some familiar faces and chat to new ones!'

As you have read, July was another packed month filled with insightful and inspiring conversations around the world.Don't miss out on these free community events! Check out a ProductTank near you: ProductTank meetup page.