NZ Product Conference 2023 - Top 5 takeaways

Yesterday marked a significant milestone for the New Zealand product community as we successfully concluded the inaugural NZ product conference by Product Aotearoa . Personally, I found immense satisfaction in reconnecting with former colleagues, my mentors, and individuals whom I've had the privilege of mentoring throughout the years.

Among the plethora of valuable insights shared during the event, here are my top five takeaways:

1) 'Strategy Framing' by Andrew Tokeley : Tokes introduced a new strategy pendulum concept, which aids in effectively communicating with your team when your actions undergo changes, while the core hypothesis, context, and goals remain aligned with the original strategy.

2) 'Learn early, reduce the cost of failure' by Nicole Williams: Nicole delved into the different costs associated with product failures and techniques to mitigate them. One notable approach is minimising the 'cost of walking away' by investing more in the discovery phase early to rapidly build confidence. I also liked how she recommended to bring concepts/wireframes early into stakeholder/board member conversations to validate - hopefully reducing the 'cost of reputation damage' later.

3) 'Status of Product Management' by Bradley Scott : On the back of recent tech reset and reduction in product people in some companies, Bradley discussed the importance of building your skills/defence/partnerships in the areas of: delivery, codebase health, strategy, messaging & product process. It is important to remember everyone is dispensable - So how you contribute or at least not adversely affect these areas by understanding the importance of them are key to continue being successful in your product career.

4) 'Effective Stakeholder Management' by Bruce McCarthy : Bruce shared valuable insights on selecting the right communication channels and methods for effective stakeholder management, as well as different decision-making styles. Notably, he highlighted the effectiveness of the 'Participative' style decision making in product management. Loved his colour matching from clothes to slides!

5) 'Product Culture Insight' by Rich Mironov : Rich's commentary on product culture panel discussion gave a different perspective to what does 'product culture' means. It underscored the delicate balance between three key areas a product team is likely pulled into: serving the user/customer needs, contributing to business/commercial objectives, and considering team health. 'Product culture' is defined by how the company and it's people balance when the dominance of one area overpower the other two.

Anticipation is already building for next year's conference, and I eagerly look forward to being a part of it. Anthony Marter David Jeames ?? Tasneem Gould Chardi Taylor David Stokes