Last week I headed over to Germany for the Just Product 2024 conference at the very special venue of ASTOR Film Lounge im ARRI. It was a powerful day, packed with talks, workshops and networking, with a perfect mix of inspiration and reality checks.
Missed it? No worries, I’ve got you covered with my key takeaways.
AI in Product: forget frameworks, it’s messy
One of the big topics this year was AI, and here’s the truth: everyone’s still figuring it out. Marty Cagan’s clean-cut frameworks don’t quite fit the messiness of AI product teams. Every situation is different, so you’ve got to adapt.
Nimisha Sharath Sharma from Uber spoke about how essential domain knowledge is when you’re building AI products. If you don’t know your data inside out, you’re at higher risk of being misled by an over-simplified, or frankly incorrect, conclusion. The contrast between B2B and B2C in AI discovery was also another highlight.
For B2B, it’s about talking to whale users for deep feedback; in B2C, it’s dashboards, numbers, and a heavier reliance on quantitative analytics. Subtly different beasts.
Make radical transparency happen
James Hawkins from PostHog spoke about radical transparency in product teams. Real transparency, no more being handed a job story. At PostHog, engineers are given so much visibility into the business side that they can make smarter decisions. It’s the ultimate trust exercise — and it works.
I found myself beaming from ear to ear. It’s rare to see a company that champions trust and transparency like we do at thoughtbot. Setting new standards for empowering teams to ‘get it done.’
It’s trust from the moment you walk through the door, no ‘proving yourself’. Trust in the hiring process to have selected a great candidate. Trust in the person to do what’s best for the company and product AND giving them access to real-time information they need to make the right decision. That’s where transparency comes in.
Enabling everyone from engineers to designers, data analysts, and even business stakeholders, to think like Product Managers by showing them how their work impacts the bigger picture? Love it. Yes. More please.
The reality of Product Management
Sebastian Borggrewe refreshingly reminded us about shared product industry challenges. He joked about the “LinkedIn version” of Product Managers where we show off polished success stories, but the actual day-to-day? It’s more like battling through a tough video game, with stakeholder alignment as your final boss. No glamour, just hustle.
David Pereira compared backlog items to ageing milk. Spot on. We all know the feeling — those tasks hanging around too long, gathering dust. His advice was a sharp reminder to say “no” more often and focus on what’s actually moving the needle. The delete (or archive) button is your friend!
Move fast, learn faster
Several talks emphasised the importance of quick, meeting-free days to keep momentum going. This creates space for experimentation, fast iterations, learning and refining, and ultimately, de-risking your product development.
I’ve been thinking about how we can facilitate this more for our teams — fewer meetings, means more time for doing. However, I think there is a balance with quality, education and alignment, which are all benefits you get from regularly pairing on code, syncing with your team or sweating out the details of a problem together. Read more about this here!
Just Product 2024 was an incredible day connecting with those passionate about building Products. 74 countries tuned in live 😱🌍, what time did people in the Americas have to wake up for this?!
It was a refreshing mix of practical tips and a few “aha” moments. It’s always great to come away from a conference feeling like you have a few new ideas and tools which can be practically applied, instead of just theory.
Big thank you to all this year’s speakers - your stories were inspiring, fearless and a place to celebrate how our industry is pushing the boundaries of ‘possible’ together.
