ProductTank Manchester

ProductTank Manchester — May 2026

Wed, May 13 · 6:00 PM BST

Renold Innovation Hub, Renold Innovation Hub, 32a Altrincham Street, Manchester, M1 7JR (Cafe event space), Manchester, GB

We're be back on Wednesday 13th May for the next ProductTank Manchester with great product speakers and great networking!

Location: Hosted and sponsored by https://nimbleapproach.comNimble
Renold Innovation Hub, 32a Altrincham Street, Manchester, M1 7JR (Cafe event space)

Speakers
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Adam Dadswell @ Nimble &
Niall Morrison, Lead Product Manager @ Betfred
Alice Rothwell, Senior Product Manager @ BBC
Talk: Lessons from shifting to Product-led

Bios:
Niall Morrison
Niall Morrison is a Product Leader at Betfred, helping drive the organisation’s move towards a more customer-led, product-focused approach. Over the past year, he has worked closely with teams to shift from roadmap delivery to problem-solving, experimentation, and continuous learning within a complex, fast-moving environment.

Adam Dadswell
Adam Dadswell is a Principal Product and Delivery Consultant at Nimble Approach. He has helped organisations including the DfE and Sky Betting & Gaming adopt more customer-first thinking, better balance delivery with discovery, and improve flow. Prior to Nimble, Adam worked at Booking.com, AO, and the BBC. At Betfred, he has been supporting the shift towards more product-led ways of working.

Talk Description: This talk shares reflections from Betfred’s ongoing shift from a delivery-focused model towards a more product-led approach, in partnership with Nimble Approach.
We’ll cover some of the practical changes that have been made, moving from outputs to outcomes, introducing more discovery-led thinking, and evolving how teams and leaders make decisions. We’ll also touch on where things have been more challenging, including the reality that progress is uneven and behaviour change takes time.

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Rob Balderstone
Talk: Convincing everyone to own the problem

Bio: A product leader since 2022, Rob’s path to product was paved with years of performance marketing, focus groups, and deep-dive customer research. From law firms and global EdTech to smart home hardware, InsureTech, and retail/e-commerce, Rob has navigated the unique challenges of building products in both digital and physical spaces. He is a firm believer that the best products are born from a shared obsession with the problem at hand.

Talk Description: Spoiler alert: This will (intentionally) be the worst-looking presentation you’ve ever seen.

Early in my transition from marketing to product leadership, I grew incredibly frustrated with the imbalance of effort vs outcomes delivered by our team. I worked with incredible people, but despite herculean efforts, we were failing to deliver anything that truly mattered - constantly trying to keep pace with the demands of a CEO chasing shiny objects and changing priorities every standup.

This is the story of a single, bonkers presentation that became my most powerful tool for cultural change - which I have since delivered time and again, always with excellent, immediate outcomes. I’ll walk you through how this narrative helped me change the way the whole business worked, empowering engineers to challenge up and out, and ultimately moving the culture from "what are we building?" to "why are we building it?".

Alice Rothwell, Senior Product Manager, BBC

Pivoting into Product: Translating What You Already Know

Careers aren’t always linear - and in product, that can be a strength. Breaking into product can feel opaque - full of frameworks, jargon, and the sense you need the “right” background. But many of the skills that matter can be developed elsewhere. I’ll share lessons from my own transition: how to reframe your experience, why generalist skills are an advantage and how to turn existing strengths into product impact. Expect practical takeaways whether you’re moving into product or growing within it.

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Why you should come?
Networking with fellow product people 👋

• Great talks from local and national speakers 🎤
• Food 🍕and drink 🍺
• We welcome people from all backgrounds!

We're a friendly bunch, our typical crowd includes:

• senior product leaders
• startup founders
• mid-level PMs
• new PMs
• people looking to get into Product
• engineers/developers
• designers
• people who work with product teams - and just want to learn more.

Whatever your situation, come along and say hello.

Event timings
6:00pm start - Networking (drinks and food)
6:30pm - Talks (3x 20-min talks + 5-min Q&A)
8:00pm - Talks finish - more networking - drinks and food
8:30pm - Close

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Please note:

• Speakers and venue are be subject to change.
• We sometimes take photos at our events for community and promotional use. By attending, you’re happy for any photos you appear in to be used in this way.
• Your name will be used for registration and check-in purposes only.
• Tickets are free but limited — please update your RSVP if you can’t make it so someone else can grab the spot.