I was walking along the sea this morning, listening to Marcant—a German anti-far-right activist and content creator—being interviewed on Hotel Matze, one of Germany's most widely listened-to podcasts.
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When winter is on the doorstep, some birds fly south to find warmth and nutrition. Like these birds, more than 1,000 people from all over the world made their way to Athens one week in early May to escape their usual day-to-day worklife and experience some human connection and warmth while getting their own thinking challenged...
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2026 has looked different from previous years in a number of ways. I don’t need to talk about all of them here (we’d be here all day!). But there’s one in particular I’d like to focus on: Along with Product at Heart co-organizer Arne Kittler, I made the decision to transform the Leadership Event from a half day folded into the main conference into a standalone 1.5-day event. We believed the Leadership Event needed a little more focus, dedication, and the chance to shine on its own.
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Are you helping or hurting your company’s product transformation? Answering this question requires taking an honest look at your own comfort and familiarity with the product operating model, which isn’t always easy.
In a recent episode of All Things Product, Teresa and I sat down to discuss the role of leadership in transformations. We think this question deserves your attention because transformation doesn’t stick unless leaders change how they work.
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Something I've been noticing in a lot of my coaching conversations lately: Decisions feel harder right now. Not because product leaders suddenly got worse at making them. If anything, making decisions with incomplete information has always been one of the core skills of this job. You rarely have all the data. You're used to operating in ambiguity. That's not new.
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So much of our lives takes place online these days. But that only highlights the importance of in-person meetings and connections. I’ll be speaking and leading workshops throughout 2026. If you’ve been craving the chance to catch up in real-time and nerd out about all things product leadership, you’re cordially invited to join me!
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I've had quite a few coaching conversations over the past few weeks with exhausted product leaders. December and January tend to be like that—people are wrapping up the year, looking ahead to the next one, and asking themselves: "How do I make 2026 less stressful than 2025?"It's a good question. An important one.
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When Alex Dina-Gargala stepped into his new role as VP of Product & Technology at Temedica—a health insights company turning real-world patient data into actionable evidence—he saw both opportunities and areas to strengthen. The product teams were delivering meaningful work, but without a shared product operating model it was harder to reach the optimal level of clarity, alignment, and autonomy.
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What makes a product leader “good” at their job? If you’re not sure how to answer that question, you’re not alone. After ten years of working with product leaders, I realized that it’s incredibly rare for companies to have consistent frameworks or rubrics that allow them to define what good product leadership looks like. Until now!
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It’s time for yet another annual review! I love taking this time to reflect on the past year and to look ahead to the next one. (If you’re interested in seeing any previous years’ editions, you can browse through them here.) Going through this exercise gives me the chance to celebrate the wins, to learn from the mistakes or missteps, and to approach the new year with a clear sense of purpose and direction.
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You've probably had this conversation recently: a stakeholder, maybe even your CEO, pulls you aside and asks, "What do we need to consider now to make our organization AI future-ready?"
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I know, I know. You saw the headline and probably rolled your eyes a little. "Product operating model versus project operating model? Really, Petra? In 2025? Haven’t we moved past this already?" I hear you. And honestly? Part of me wishes we had.
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Welcome to autumn! We’re kicking off the new season with a hot topic on the All Things Product podcast: AI evals and discovery. In just a few days, this episode has come close to breaking our record of the most views on YouTube, so clearly it’s a topic that’s resonating.
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Are you a product leader who wants to invest in yourself for more professional growth? Look no further—my course is here to help! Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with countless product leaders—bright, ambitious people navigating the complexities of leadership while striving to create exceptional products. Coaching them has been one of the most rewarding parts of my career. Yet, no matter how many leaders I’ve worked with, one challenge has always loomed in the back of my mind: Coaching doesn’t scale.
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We’re nearing the end of our summer break and I wanted to take a moment to share what was clearly the most popular episode of the All Things Product podcast this summer: AI Prototyping. Given the interest in this topic in the product world in general (and even in our own programming at Product at Heart), this is not surprising at all.
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In a world where tech leaders openly question democratic values, where inclusive workplace policies can be undone with the click of a tweet, and where short-term thinking often overrides long-term care,we asked ourselves: What is our role as product people? Earlier this year, Arne and I attended the House of Beautiful Business, where Tim Leberecht spoke about curation as a form of resistance—a quiet superpower in an age of overload and indifference.
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If you’re a product leader quietly wondering whether you’re already behind on AI, you’re not alone. Many leaders I coach feel the same: overwhelmed by the expectations, unsure where to start, and guilty for not leading their teams more proactively. They’ve read some articles and books, but don’t feel they have the practical experience yet to confidently set direction. And meanwhile, stakeholders and peers are pushing: Where is our AI strategy? Where is it on the roadmap?
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Woohoo! We’ve just wrapped up the third annual Product at Heart conference. In case you’re new here and haven’t heard, Product at Heart is the annual conference for curious product people I co-organize here in Hamburg with Arne Kittler.
If you’d like to learn more about the event and its programming, you can explore the blog post recaps, video archives, and the photo stream over on the official Product at Heart website.
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Over the years, many product leaders and organizations have adopted the PMwheel and, just recently, the PLwheel to reflect on their leadership responsibilities, grow their teams, and guide meaningful development conversations. I’m deeply grateful for that—and it makes me incredibly happy to see these tools being used intentionally and with care.
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A few years ago, my friend and business partner Arne attended his first House of Beautiful Business event. When he came back, he was full of awe—moved not just by the content, but by the atmosphere, the depth, the unexpected beauty of the whole experience. I remember thinking: Whatever this is, I want to feel it too. And this year I went!
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