Last week, I had the chance to meet Marty Cagan at a meetup organized by ProductLab Community Conference at Google's Berlin office. Thanks to Daniele Ronca for organizing such an impactful event. That meetup was full of true gems. I'm still mesmerized by all of them. For starters, a big eye-opener is what Marty shared with us about the Product model is Where Product managers could strive. Product managers are not the only ones responsible for bringing value, but rather it is a shared responsibility between Product, Design, and Technology. However, Product managers are responsible for owning their organizations' business viability. Moreover, Marty brought true wisdom by framing product leadership competency. The best way of empowering product people is by providing better management, not less management. Founder-mode leaders could shape the success or the failure of the team, that depends on their way of providing deep knowledge and coaching. "Delegation without coaching is just setting up the team to fail" - Marty Cagan

✨ This week, I attended an inspiring talk by Marty Cagan at the ProductLab Community event, and it highlighted something I’ve observed during my own experiences. Many companies still haven’t fully adopted the concept of empowered product teams. It’s not uncommon, especially for organizations that have been around for a while, but transformation is crucial for driving better results and outcomes. Marty shared a clear framework for what it takes to transform product organizations. It’s not just about hiring product managers, building features, or following a roadmap. True transformation requires intentional changes across the team, the process, and the mindset. Here are some key insights from the talk that stood out to me: 🔴 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 A strong product manager is the key. They need to bring together business sense, customer understanding, data insights, and knowledge of industry trends. Engineers are not just implementers. They’re critical problem solvers who should be involved in product discovery from the start. And stakeholders? They’re collaborators, not dictators. For this to work, they must trust the product team. 🔴 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 + 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 = 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 Marty emphasized the importance of having a solid process for continuous discovery and delivery. Discovery ensures you’re solving the right problems. And solution discovery can sometimes be more valuable than problem one. Delivery ensures you’re solving them quickly and effectively. Both must work together to drive outcomes. 🔴 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 Transforming from feature teams to empowered product teams takes time. It requires building trust with stakeholders and showing measurable results. Starting with a pilot team that can demonstrate success is often a great way to prove the value of this approach. One of the most impactful takeaways for me was how Marty broke down the skill set a product manager needs to lead this transformation. It’s about understanding the constraints and needs of stakeholders, staying ahead of market trends, and connecting the dots between customer problems and business goals. This talk resonated with me as I’m currently interviewing with companies and having conversations about their product processes. It’s clear that while not every organization has fully embraced empowered product teams, the potential for transformation is always there. 💡 Have you experienced the shift from feature teams to product teams in your organization? Or are you still on the journey? Let’s discuss! Thank you, Marty Cagan, for such a thought-provoking session and the ProductLab Community Conference for organizing another great event. Looking forward to the next one! …more

𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐈 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐬 – 𝐀 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐋𝐚𝐛 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 Yesterday, I had the chance to attend an amazing event organized by ProductLab Community & Conference> hosted at the GetYourGuide offices. The topic? Building AI Products 🚀 The first talk was by Nicolò Pignatelli, Director of Engineering at GetYourGuide, who shared how they transitioned to a hybrid search approach – combining keyword and vector search. This change came after discovering that users often didn’t see relevant results, even when GetYourGuide offered the experiences they were searching for. After running three A/B tests, they fully rolled out hybrid search, leading to an impressive +2.6%  increase in net revenue! 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲:  Stop using chatbots for search! It’s simply the wrong UI for this purpose – at least, it didn’t work for GetYourGuide The second talk was by Fabian Strunden, AI PM Lead at Miro, who discussed how Miro integrates AI into their platform and emphasized the importance of user research in shaping their direction. Overall, it was a super insightful evening! If you’re in Berlin and work in product management, engineering, or UX, I highly recommend checking out the next ProductLab Community event. #Wie #SpeakUp #ConvertXWie

Sometimes, dreams need persistence. "Inspired" isn’t just a book—it’s my favorite guide to product management. Meeting its author, Marty Cagan, has been a dream of mine for years. When I heard Marty was coming to Hamburg in April 2024, I tried—and failed. I was crushed, thinking I’d missed my only chance. Then came the Berlin event announcement. The catch? I was determined to make it this time, but there was a problem—I already had a ticket to Web Summit on the same day, and ProductLab Community Conference events sell out in minutes. Still, I set my alarm for 7 AM (on vacation, no less!) and secured my ticket. The event? Incredible. Marty’s 90-minute talk was exactly what I needed, addressing the challenges I’m navigating now and reigniting my passion for product management. A huge thank you to Daniele Ronca, Ahmed Wafaey, Delivery Hero, Google for making this dream come true ❤️ . It was everything I had hoped for—and more.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 ProductLab Community Conference! 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺? Last week, I met Marty Cagan at Google's beautiful Berlin office for an evening of valuable insights on leadership, management and building high-performing teams. It was truly fascinating to learn about leadership principles from big companies and how they can be applied for startups and growing organisations. I saw clear parallels between my own experience as a founder and the frameworks used in product management - things I was doing instinctively but now have a beeper understanding of thanks to this event. My key learnings > empowerment requires better management not les management > delegation without coaching is just setting a team up to fail > leaders must be experts in the areas they are managing It was so inspiring that my co-founder Hossam and I ordered Marty's book Transformed to dive further into these ideas and learn more. A big shoutout to Daniele Ronca - because you gave me the opportunity to introduce myself to this amazing community. Honestly, I probably would have never known about the ProductLab Community without you and now I am proud to be part of this incredible team and work on something great together 💚 Daniele Ronca Amon Fayz Arundhati Shenoy Alessia Marchi Elena Eremeeva Julian Eisele Liubov Antonova Manizeh Dossa Mariia Klochkova

You know what’s better than having the opportunity meet and listen to the incredible energy and passion of Marty Cagan 🚀 in Berlin? I’ll tell you what…doing it together with your amazing WeRoad colleagues Matteo Risso Simone Berardozzi 🎉🎉 What an opportunity thanks to Daniele Ronca and ProductLab Community Conference

Imagine meeting your role-model 🤩 Imagine the feeling of sharing the warmest handshake with someone whose books have been your go-to guide in shaping your thinking and career. Imagine listening to that same person speak for almost two hours, feeling as though only 15 minutes had passed, and still wanting to hear more. Imagine having the chance to ask your own question, engage in a meaningful discussion, and gain insights you’ll carry with you for a lifetime. I am so incredibly lucky that this was actually my reality. And I feel so deeply grateful! Grateful to Marty Cagan for sharing his knowledge, experience, and wisdom with us. It was an honour to learn from you — thank you! And thank you for sharing your knowledge through all of your books, especially your newest one, "Transformed". It has helped me grow so much. Thank you Daniele Ronca, for making a dream come true for so many people. I’m incredibly proud of you — this is just the beginning! My co-founder Aaron Pinto, thank you for being there with me and sharing in this unforgettable experience as always! And finally, a huge thank-you to the whole ProductLab Community Conference team — the organizing force behind this incredible event. I’m so proud to be part of this amazing group. Love you all! ❤️‍🔥 Daniele Ronca Elena Eremeeva Manizeh Dossa Julian Eisele Alessia Marchi Amon Fayz Arundhati Shenoy Mariia Klochkova Deniz Can Sebik 🪩

💭 “If you don’t solve the problem 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 better than someone else, you lose”, — said Marty Cagan at our ProductLab Community Conference event in Google office this Tuesday. 💡 This might be an insightful advice for startups that develop their products by trying to solve a particular problem in the most efficient way possible. Regardless, behind every startup there is a person, and sometimes it's important to remind that person that whilst chasing crowdfunding, negotiating with stakeholders and developing a GTM strategy, if you manage your personal hardships 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵, you win. Me, these beautiful people 👉 Daniele Ronca Elif Gümüş Manizeh Dossa Liubov Antonova Arundhati Shenoy Alessia Marchi Amon Fayz Julian Eisele and ProductLab Community Conference members will make sure you get support in either situation. 💚 Join the community of most talented and encouraging product people in Berlin: lnkd.in/dN2QJY_i 📸 Thank you Mariia Klochkova for these beautiful memories and Jam.dev Delivery Hero ROY Kombucha for supporting us.

If you woke me up at 4 a.m. and asked about the two books that made the most significant impact on my professional mindset I'd say "No Rules Rules" and "Inspired". This week I had the chance to listen to and meet their authors Erin Meyer and Marty Cagan in person at two great events in Berlin. As an introvert, I've never actually approached celebrities in my life, but this time it was a real pleasure to ask them for a handshake and a photo ;) Thank you Daniele Ronca and DeepL for organizing events that brought such wonderful guests to the stage 🚀

A shout out to ProductLab Community Conference for inviting Marty Cagan to Berlin to meet many of us enthusiastic Product Folks. I aspire to be a Product Leader some day and the SVPG books will keep me Inspired. ✨ So much of this content reaffirmed to me why it's awesome to be a Product Manager and to keep focus on solving customer problems by continually questioning the value and purpose of a product. (P.S. I think we are either laughing about how to spell my name or how I bookmarked every chapter 😅 ) #productmanagement …more