Product Aotearoa

Ok NZ product community, who are we nominating for this? FYI Product Aotearoa

What a wonderful evening having BA and product people in one room to discuss some interesting topics. Big shout out to our amazing panelists Maddy Paviell Ha Nguyen Anthony Marter Zachary Wong who shared invaluable insights in both areas, Hailey W. who facilitated her first panel event, Product Aotearoa who sponsored the catering and managed the online streaming, and Shu W. who provided such a beautiful venue at 新西兰奥克兰理工大学 ❤️ The biggest take-away for me as a BA: if you are willing to take ownership, have a clear vision and strong drive to solve problems and create good product with a sharp commercial sense, you have the potential to make a great career in the product space! Thanks to everyone who came over tonight, I look forward to our next gathering!

Thanks to Sophie Chen, Hailey W. and the rest of the BA Career meetup group for collaborating with us at ProductTank Auckland to pull this event together! Was a great night, loved sharing insights on how the BA and Product roles work together and what career paths exist for each. Many thanks to the other panelists for their awesome insights - great work Ha Nguyen, Maddy Paviell and Zachary Wong. And of course thanks to Shu W. and Auckland University of Technology for hosting us, our volunteers Rahul Singh, Akanksha Kumari and Wai Loong Tham and Product Aotearoa for sponsoring the food and drinks - this is a great use of the funds we have been able to accumulate to serve our community.

Its been just over a week that I had the privilege to share my stories on stage at the Product Aotearoa conference, alongside my brilliant partner in crime -🇺🇦 Iryna Melnyk! I am so grateful to have done this with some smart, fun humans who are experts at what they do. I am still buzzing with all my learnings and insights. Dan Olsen, Vidya Dinamani, Joe Raeburn, Tish Laubscher, Simon Jackson, PhD, Kirsten Mann. Christina Baldarelli and Tana Isaac Thanks also to the PA Team who ensured that we spoke on time, were sufficient caffeinated and thoroughly enjoyed our time! David Jeames, Chelsea E. Hillier, Anthony Marter, Petrina Harper, Bharat Kapoor, Andrew Tokeley, Jesica Iskandar, Jeremy Lawson and more. PS - If you are into B2B growth, we have an open role at Octopus Deploy. :) https://lnkd.in/g4_VmrE8

My cup is full. Last week I was invited to give a talk at the Product Aotearoa Conference, delving into how I've been problem solving product challenges while building Manana Interactive, the frameworks that have helped me, and the lessons I've learnt along the way. Since then, I've received so many messages from people being inspired by the work or asking to try it for themselves. After quite a few nudges, I've opened up a waitlist for people interested in trying our stress resilience tool. Sign up below if you'd like to play: www.manana.co.nz/waitlist

One of our missions at Product Aotearoa is to connect product people in New Zealand. We want to express our gratitude for the generous support we received from our sponsors, who, by sponsoring the Product Aotearoa Conference 2024, made our mission possible ✨ Thank you to the following companies: 🌟 Platinum Sponsor: Octopus Deploy 🌟 Gold Sponsor: Pendo.io 🌟 Silver Sponsors: LawVu and Lightspeed Commerce

Today’s shout out is to all the volunteers! The conference would not be possible without the hard work of our dedicated team, who worked tirelessly behind the scene to make the conference possible 💚 Jeremy Lawson, Chelsea E. Hillier, Petrina Harper, David Jeames, Bharat Kapoor, Rahul Singh, Sabeena Tsan, Andrew Tokeley, Anthony Marter, Jesica Iskandar (Not pictured: Hina Nasir, Francisco Topp)

It’s already been one week since this group hit the Product Aotearoa Conference stage in WellingtonNZ! Vidya Dinamani Dan Olsen Kirsten Mann 🇺🇦 Iryna Melnyk Shipra Mahindra Christina Baldarelli Tana Isaac Joe Raeburn Tish Laubscher Simon Jackson, PhD

And the ProductTank Auckland events keep coming! Excited to be a panelist at this collaboration with the BA Career meetup about the intersection between the roles of BAs and product people. The recent results of the Product Aotearoa nationwide product survey that 27% of all product people had the title BA before moving into a product role shows that this is a career path that is crucial to our profession, so please come along to support this event!

Product is hard, but the right mindset, tools, and community can move mountains. The 2024 Product Aotearoa Conference was an incredible reminder of that. I’m still reflecting and synthesising everything that was covered over these awesome two days. Here are my top takeaways from a stellar lineup of speakers and sessions: 🎯 Only beginning to scratch the surface with Stu van Rij on defining my system to unlock my performance to influence decisions. 💡 Kirsten Mann with her sales mindset and 3 why’s - Why change, why now, why us. Has me thinking differently on how we communicate. 🚀 Dan Olsen showing us how to prioritise opportunities using the Importance vs Satisfaction matrix, and taking it to 11. Such a simple but powerful way to spot opportunities. 🔁 Tish Laubscher on the courage it takes to pivot something a team loves in order to close the feedback loop. So relatable and inspiring. 🥇 🇺🇦 Iryna Melnyk & Shipra Mahindra reminding us we don't need permission and aligning teams with Mission Pitches. 📚 Vidya Dinamani on returning to fundamentals and focus on mindset. Product is hard, and this talk couldn’t be more relevant. 🎙️ Joe Raeburn showcasing the resilience it takes to be in Product and using the concept of Fresh & Familiar to ensure LTV > CPI. 🧪 Simon Jackson, PhD reminding us that Product has no guarantees, everything is a test, so test well. 🎨 Christina Baldarelli on finding product people in the most unlikely of places and the art of storytelling. 💪 Tana Isaac sharing his personal journey, showing vulnerability and the sheer focus it takes to turn a product around during hard economic times. Huge thanks to the organisers and speakers for creating such a thoughtful and motivating event, along with letting me be part of the welcoming team, checking in the hundreds of attendees 🫰