Product Tank January 2025: PM Bragging and Gen AI Embeddings

ProductTank PDX winter session is upon us! Join us for two great talks: Generative AI: Text Embeddings and Speed Bragging for PMs. As always, we will also have plenty of time to meet other product folks over drinks and lots of tasty snacks!

Generative AI Toolbox: Text Embeddings
Discover how to build a simple but powerful semantic recommendation system using an overlooked tool in the AI-toolbox: Text Embeddings. With all the excitement around Generative AI, it's easy to lose focus on finding practical and implementable solutions to complex problems. Generating user recommendations is a case in point. We could consider various machine learning frameworks, knowledge graphs and expensive third-party services, but these tools require time and specialized expertise to get consistent results. Instead of thinking about the tools, we focused on the task, and found a solution that best met both our needs and means. This talk provides an accessible overview of text embeddings and demonstrates how they can deliver effective recommendations without the complexity and cost of other AI approaches.

Jack Hott is the Director of Product Management at Poached. His focus at Poached is to make good ideas into great features - all to keep hospitality businesses fully staffed. Jack is a graduate of Portland State University, and has spent a career in entrepreneurial environments, leading teams and building businesses.

Speed Bragging for Product People
Bragging can be a force for good when it highlights good work, celebrates wins, or helps great people get opportunities to make a bigger difference. Product people, from junior product managers to CPOs, are tempted to give all the credit to the team when things go right and take all the blame when things go wrong. But that incomplete picture devalues the important work they do. Good news: you can be generous with credit and also brag about your product and your own contributions! In this interactive session you’ll learn some tips for bragging better, get a chance to practice, and learn how to help your colleagues brag better, too.

Nadya Duke Boone is the inventor of the brag lunch and the author of the Nadya Dot Release newsletter for focused and actionable career, leadership, and product advice. She’s worked as an electrical engineer, software engineer, engineering director, product manager and has held several tech leadership roles including General Manager at New Relic, and Chief Product Officer at DAT Freight & Analytics and the cybersecurity firm Huntress. Her newsletter and more information about brag lunches can be found at nadyadukeboone.com.