ProductTank Manchester: May 2023

After a great April event sponsored by Pendo and Infinity Works, part of Accenture, we’re back for a May event. Same deal as always; drinks, food and most importantly awesome speakers. We look forward to seeing you all there!

Auto Trader will be hosting and sponsoring the event - thank you 🙏

We've got two fantastic speakers lined up so far and space for couple more still, so if you're interested, please let us know.

🌟 We’ve got four fantastic speakers lined 🌟

Maggie Walsh, Principal Product Manager at Auto Trader UK - Head of Consumer Selling + Disposal - "Let’s get physical"
Maggie is a Principal Product Manager at Auto Trader UK. She’s worked across industry both in-house and as a consultant, delivering products that solve problems in publishing, healthcare and retail. She is a practitioner of lean principles and advocate of feedback-driven change, and is experienced in cultivating, coaching and leading outcome driven teams.

Talk description: The last decade and a bit, product managers around the world have been working to digitise physical products and experiences. In this talk, Maggie shares her experience and observations working in these transformations — what as a practice we did well, not so well and why we might have thrown the champagne out with the cork.

Harsh Dadhich, PhD, Lead Product Manager at Thoughtworks — "Tyranny of Metrics"
Harsh has spent the last 15 years understanding consumer behaviour — sometimes to even build successful products from those insights. Harsh has worked in a variety of industries including manufacturing, Fintech, EV charging, logistics, academia and regulations. Through his experience Harsh has learnt lessons on what makes products and teams successful. And, how to leverage a cross-disciplinary approach to find solutions to novel (and frustrating) problems.

Talk description: What gets measured gets managed. Mostly, people would agree. But is it true? Does obsession with metrics translate into better outcomes? This talk will share some examples where metrics can be irrelevant or worse misguiding. While judgement is a necessary part of business (and our lives), a careful approach to measuring and using it for decision making is necessary. By looking at examples from different industries such as healthcare, automotive, etc, this talk will highlight the pitfalls and how to avoid them.

David Abbott, CEO, Tangible - Software Industry Management Consultancy — "Strategy; whose job is it anyway?"
David has managed multiple technology businesses and helped companies grow, transform, and exit at an exceptional price.
He has also directly led product management within companies ranging from £1m revenue through to global market leaders and provided product management consultancy and training to clients from start-ups and scale-ups to global £30bn+ organisations.

Talk description: At Tangible, we consider strategy as the business science that informs, justifies, and optimises the computer science. It’s the essential R that often gets swamped or sacrificed by D. But whose job is it? And what part does it play alongside Agile? In this talk, we will cover the Tangible approach to strategy, the consequences of a strategy deficit, and the importance of strategy for repeatable product management success.

Evie Brockwell, Product Expert: Consultant & Coach - Be Optimised — “How to create an amazing product culture”
Evie is an experienced Product Leader, supporting teams to deliver amazing products that their customers love. She previously worked for leading travel brands, TUI & [Booking.com](http://booking.com/), before starting her own Digital Consultancy whilst travelling the world. Evie works with Product teams worldwide to deliver the maximum possible value from their digital products, with a focus on coaching, strategy & processes.

Talk description: Have you ever worked in an amazing Product culture? I’m sure you can easily recall all of the times that you haven’t… As PMs - we’re often stretched and feeling under pressure to deliver exceptional products. It’s part of the thrill of the journey - but can sometimes be overwhelming. An amazing Product culture supports everyone to do their best work, whilst delivering amazing results - in a sustainable way. It’s something that everyone wants, but can be so hard to curate and leave you feeling a little helpless. This talk will walk you through the best elements of an amazing Product culture, and give you some tips you can use to go ahead and influence the areas you care about so you can really deliver your best work!

Note: space for this event is limited, so please only RSVP if you genuinely intend on coming. For some events we end up with a waitlist, but 1 in 4 people don’t turn up which just denies some people from being able to come. We know plans can change, so update your RSVP as early as you can if you're no longer able to make it.