Vision to Value: Strategy in Action
If there’s one word that causes a lot of confusion in the product world, it’s strategy. Everyone agrees that it’s important. Most people say they have one. But if you scratch the surface, you find that not everyone can agree on what it actually means. And if you question a few PMs in your company, you might quickly realize that not everyone can clearly articulate what your specific product strategy is—or how their everyday work connects to it.
AI Agents in Practice: How Henrik Kniberg Sees the Future of Collaborative Work - Product at Heart 2025
When working with interns, the experience usually varies from “Please take a break. It’s better if I do this by myself.” to “I want to have you as a full-time employee right now!”. Imagine a world where the latter is the case for every intern you hire. Every intern super-smartly executes according to your guidance. And they are available for anyone in need. This is the world we already live in! Let me explain why.
Product Growth in an AI Disrupted World: How Disrupted Distribution Channels and Vibe Coding Impact Every Product
Elena Verna’s talk was an especially interesting one because it serves as a wake-up call to those of us whose products don’t have a moat – meaning an edge that defends our market position – in order to survive the upcoming era of custom-built apps and eroding distribution channels. But let’s start at the beginning, before we get ahead of ourselves.
Breaking through the instagramification of our industry
There’s a fine line between setting high and achievable standards for ourselves and our companies and falling into the trap of imitating “the best” without appreciating our own context. Somewhere between those impossible standards and the stalling of “it depends,” Afonso Malo offered us a third, more grounded way, in his closing keynote.
From Metrics to Meaning: Data-Driven Product Decisions
With many leaders asking their product teams to be more data driven and an ever-growing number of tools on the market that collect data about your products, features, and customers, it’s easy to feel like data is the world’s tallest mountain and you haven’t even left base camp yet. And even if you’re already collecting data, being able to actually use it to generate actionable insights and make decisions might feel equally insurmountable—but it doesn’t have to be.
Founder Style Leadership: The Key to Empowered Product Teams
Marty Cagan opened the 2025 Product at Heart conference with a keynote on Founder Style Leadership – a leadership approach particularly effective for those leading product organizations. He emphasized its importance in today’s context. While a few years ago, his talks were often focussed on distinguishing the role of the Product Manager from that of the Product Owner, he now sees a different gap in Europe: a lack of strong product leadership.
Product at Heart 2025: Key Learnings and Takeaways
Our voices may be fried from all the talking and our feet feeling a little weary from all the walking, but our hearts and minds are full from all the connections, conversations, and ideas that were sparked at the latest edition of Product at Heart.
Insights and Key Takeaways from the Product at Heart Leadership Event 2025
What happens when you gather 60 forward-thinking product leaders, add in insightful and inspiring industry thought leaders, and allow them to mix and mingle? You get open conversations, collaborative problem-solving, and actionable takeaways. That’s the idea behind the Product at Heart Leadership Event, and 2025 delivered all that and more.
What to Expect at Product at Heart 2025: Hamburg Edition
We’re back—and we can’t wait to welcome you to Hamburg next June for another unforgettable Product at Heart!
From inspiring keynotes and thought-provoking themed sessions to hands-on workshops and our much-loved Leadership Event, we’re designing three days of learning, connection, and growth for curious product people like you.
Just Announced: Full Lineup for Product at Heart Leadership Events 2025
In 2025, Product at Heart returns with two unique Leadership Events designed exclusively for senior product leaders. Whether you’re a Chief Product Officer, Head of Product, VP of Product, or Product Team Lead, these events offer a rare opportunity to step away from the day-to-day grind, connect with peers, and gain actionable insights tailored to the challenges of leading product organizations.
It’s All Invented! How Our Personal Narratives Shape Us and the Future of Our Products by Kate Leto
As product managers we know that people buy stories and not our products. That’s why we aim to become great storytellers to influence how people act and interact. Yet, we rarely consider what stories we tell to ourselves. Whether it's an internal mantra like “I’m not any good at my job” or “If I want it done right, I have to do it,”. We each carry a “story” or set of narratives that influence how we act and interact.
Skillset to Mindset: Realizing Your Potential as a Product Manager – Product at Heart 2024
Being a successful product manager isn’t just about your technical skills or knowhow. In fact, it’s your soft skills—things like communication, time management, and even curiosity—that will allow you to flourish in this challenging and unpredictable career. This is why we had a themed session on Skillset to Mindset: Realizing Your Potential as a Product Manager.
From Growth to Profit: Rethinking Value Creation – Product at Heart 2024
There’s been a palpable shift in the product world over the past couple of years. It’s no longer enough to focus on our craft and on the growth our products can drive for our companies. There’s now a mandate to connect our work to our company’s business outcomes. But if you’re brand-new to the world of financial forecasting, what’s a troubled product manager to do?
Winning Together: Blueprints for Collaborative Success – Product at Heart 2024
You’ve probably heard the expression that product is a team sport (and maybe you’ve even said it yourself from time to time?). And while this is a useful analogy, it’s important to translate it into practical steps that guide your everyday work. What can you actually do to ensure you collaborate with others, both within product, design, and engineering as well as your cross-functional partners and leaders?
Maker’s Knowledge and the Present of Time
What would product development look like if we weren’t rushed by deadlines and stakeholder pressure? Oliver Reichenstein’s talk, Maker’s Knowledge and the Present of Time, explores this question by advocating for taking time to craft meaningful products. Founder of iA, Oliver emphasizes the importance of slowing down and deeply understanding the process to create high-quality, human-centered products—without the artificial constraints of time.
How We Work: Product Operating Models in Practice – Product at Heart 2024
The concept of a product operating model—an overall set of rules that frames and guides how you go about your product work—is not new, but it’s been gaining attention over the past year, especially thanks to high-profile books like Product Operations by Melissa Perri and Denise Tilles and TRANSFORMED by Marty Cagan.
The Practice is the Product: From Frameworks to Adapting to Context
When aiming to master our craft, we study best practices and frameworks. So that when time comes, we can practice “by the book” Product Management.
In his talk at the 2024 Product at Heart, Tim Herbig challenged that conventional focus on best practices and frameworks, proposing instead a shift in mindset towards adapting product management techniques to specific contexts. His message was simple yet powerful: product success isn't about following rigid practices but about delivering real, everyday value.
Unlocking Success: The Key Role of Product Operations in High-Growth Strategies
At Product at Heart 2024, Melissa Perri, author of Escaping the Build Trap and Product Operations, shared lessons from her time at AthenaHealth and her broader experience advising companies. She tackled the big challenges product teams face—how to monitor strategy, make data work for you, and remove obstacles from the path. She also made it clear: product operations isn’t there to replace PMs but to help them focus on what really matters.
Courage Isn’t Just for Conferences—It’s How We Shape the Future of Products
For the 2024 edition of Product at Heart, we chose the theme of courage. We believe that it takes courage to build, create, and innovate, as well as to learn, challenge, and grow. In other words: It takes courage to be curious. And since the tagline for our event is “A conference for curious product people,” it made sense to encourage both courage and curiosity.
Product at Heart 2024: Key Learnings and Takeaways
Exciting news from the product community in Hamburg: We’ve just wrapped the second annual Product at Heart conference, which took place on September 13, 2024. This year we returned to our home at Kampnagel, where over 750 curious product people from around the globe gathered for a day of curated programming and spontaneous conversations.