What do you do if you're a product manager and want to stay ahead of emerging technology trends?

If you're trying to stay ahead of relevant trends in the industry as a PM, don't just look at ChatGPT! As a PM who wants to learn, you owe it to yourself to be more specific and more hungry for specific trends. For example, if you work in D2C, look at how robotics is changing cost curves for e-commerce fulfillment. If you work in B2B, look at how LLM's as a megatrend are commodifying SAAS products, forcing changes in pricing and packaging. If you work in devtooling, look at the pitfalls and opportunities of AI-driven vs. AI-assisted development. My point here is to look at how technology trends are affecting your industry, and lean into your curiosity. Follow threads that make you excited, and you'll remember better what you learn!

Stay in the loop with tech stuff, not just from your usual crowd. Check out blogs, podcasts, and social media. Hit up conferences, read research reports, and dive into online communities. Don’t just stop there—keep tabs on what’s happening in your product world. Listen to customers, pay attention to market demands, and stay updated on industry standards. But hey, it’s not just about keeping an eye out; get your team on board with continuous learning. Attend workshops, webinars, and training sessions. Collaborate with smart folks in the industry, be open to trying new things, and build a team with a mix of skills. It’s not just about watching the trends; it’s about jumping into the tech convo.

Scouting technology requires diligence and adaptability. Establishing a routine to regularly read and check key research sources is essential for staying informed. Avoiding bias means continuously revisiting and updating your source list to ensure a comprehensive and balanced perspective. Remaining open to new insights and emerging trends fosters a dynamic approach to technology scouting, enabling informed decision-making and innovation.

There is no one way to scan the horizon but as per my experience I believe that the first thing product managers should do is to understand technology. Product managers may not always need to go deeper and understand the technology from the lowest level. But what you should think through while looking at a technology is How is this technology different from the existing technology? How can this technology transform the way you are solving the problem currently? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using this technology with regards to security, performance cost and other factors. The most important thing is to be aware of POCs which are already being done in other domains using this tech and the outcomes of it.

Stay ahead of emerging technology trends by scanning the horizon for signals of change. Explore diverse sources like blogs, podcasts, newsletters, social media, conferences, research reports, and online communities beyond immediate competitors and customers. Monitor trends relevant to your product domain, including user behavior, market demand, customer feedback, and industry standards.

Staying ahead in tech means being perpetually curious and connected. Dive into industry research, attend leading conferences, and engage with innovative communities. Leverage your network to explore diverse perspectives. Experimentation is key; you can just pilot new technologies within your products to understand their impact firsthand. Embrace a learner’s mindset through Design Thinking—what works today may evolve tomorrow. Your role as a product manager isn’t just to track trends and foresee the intersection of technology, user needs, and business opportunities.

In today's world it's easier to learn new tech. There are a lot of tools available at your helm. You have GPT to get an idea on the latest trend. You can use various playgrounds, no,-code/low code tool available to check your hypothesis. Experimentation is easier, build and seek feedback.

I found during the market experimentation curve, most of the emerging technology ideas are shared more openly. Research articles, webinars by associated groups as well as market trends divert the focus on what's new. For example, recently, while looking for ways to adapt and embed AI in general tasks, I was seeking topics and looking into the ongoing research over why AI got in trend now than before. I learnt failure and wins of AI processes over years and what's coming along. The results did helped me to experiment more on AI wins and it also helped to understand what could not be done with AI as of now and why.

Experimenting with a new technology is really essential before you start investing in it. Once you understand a particular technology and its use case in the business problems you are solving you should be conducting a small proof of concept to validate the hypothesis. Just like building any product when you are working on new features or capabilities you first do a small POC to validate the problem and the solution, it is equally important to do that with any new technology. Transitioning to a new technology is often time consuming and costly. Decisions of using a new technology should not just be made based on trends where people often end up retrofitting a new technology to an existing use case without really generating any value.

Stay ahead of emerging technology trends by experimenting and learning from them. Try new tools, platforms, frameworks, and methodologies to enhance product development speed and quality. Seek feedback from users, stakeholders, and peers on their perceptions and usage of new technologies. Measure the impact of experiments on product metrics like user satisfaction, retention, engagement, and revenue.

Attend webinars hosted by Product Managers and Engineering leaders from other industries to learn about the technologies they are implementing. Attend various in-person conferences and events. Lastly, have one-one meetings with Product leaders from different industries to deep dive into the technologies they are implementing.

Collaborating with people working in the same technology is often helpful. If you look at groundbreaking research or new technology advancements, these are always possible by collaborating with multiple experts in the domain coming from different organisations and levels. So instead of working in the new technology or problems one should consider working with multiple people from within the organisation or domain so that we need varied perspective which will help us in moving in the right direction and also faster.

Demonstrate hunger and curiosity to learn new stuff every day. One can stay aligned with the emerging industry trends by attending conferences, reading articles, follow blogs, connect to industry leaders. Join online discussion forums where you can exchange ideas, insights & mutually learn from others perspective. Connect and explore 1-1 meetings with industry experts, follow their thoughts/ posts on LinkedIn. But you should have a desire to learn and implement the learnings in your area. Knowledge is worth only when actions are taken, and results are derived.

Collaborate and network to stay ahead of Technology trends. The best way you can do this as a Product manager is to participate in collaborative projects, get a mentor, follow podcast and attends webinars( virtual and physical). By doing so, you will definitely be updated on the emerging technological tools and framework within your industry. One of the best platform you can collaborate and network is here on LinkedIn. You will have virtually everything you need to collaborate and network using this platform. It is a learning curve and acess to wider audience of professionals within your industry as well as gaining access to so many product schools both paid and non-profit organisation.

Collaborate and network with other product managers, developers, designers, and experts to stay ahead of emerging technology trends. Join online forums, groups, chats, and events to exchange ideas and best practices. Seek mentorship and advice from experienced individuals to navigate challenges and opportunities in using new technologies.

In my experience a great way to do this is by having lunch and learns, where you share new technology or new uses of technology with your colleagues. This can spawn great conversation, which leads to applicability in the work place.

By sharing insights and championing new technologies, you not only position yourself as a thought leader but also contribute to your product's evolution and competitive edge. Engaging with your team, stakeholders, and the broader community creates a culture of innovation and openness to change, driving collective growth and success. Your efforts in advocating for tech advancements can significantly impact your product's relevance and future direction.

As mentioned in my point 2 comment, I think the general research can get you understand the pros and cons but unfortunately, in work environment we cannot leverage time beyond the scope of product vision. However, the success count is when we are ready to adapt the new tech with calculated risk and can tune in the team and stakeholders to brainstorm over enhancements with possibilities over the period of time with evolving solutions.

Innovation in the product life cycle is critical to keeping your company at the forefront of the technology curve. No matter what methodologies you use on your teams, it's important to reserve time for the exploration of new technologies and ideas. Most development teams love the idea of chasing the bright new shiny object of a new tool or technology. This can quite often interfere with a normal development roadmap if teams get distracted. But embracing this innovation and building in 'free' time in your plans for exploration and prototyping will not only keep your teams focused and happy but also help your organization stay up to date on these technologies.