Reflections from ProductCon London 2026

ProductCon London 2026 really nailed it. One of the best conferences I’ve attended — even virtually.

I genuinely felt energized and inspired by the talks. Still digesting everything.

Here’s what really stayed with me:

The importance of human-in-the-loop in AI systems to build trust. Ashley Nutter framed this in a practical way—clarifying when humans step in, what their role is, and what happens after they intervene.
How PMs can inspire truly autonomous teams even without formal authority. Nilan Peiris was a strong reminder that real impact comes from influence, clarity, and trust — not title.
The idea that ChatGPT is the product manager your customers are already talking to — the “shadow PM” who understands their pain points. Pavel Fabrikantov’s point about AI discoverability really made me rethink a few things.
The shift of product managers toward becoming builders, and the need for real frameworks to drive AI-native transformation. Great perspective from Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia.
And the honesty in the panel with Nikita Miller — refreshing to see product leaders openly sharing common challenges and practical ways to deliver fast, great products.

Looking forward to the next one!

👉 Agenda

Comments

No Idea What to Build Next? Let Customer Complaints Talk

Feeling stuck? Not sure what you should work on next? Is it time to build your product roadmap, but you only have a few eggs in one basket? Ok, I got you. We are product people, and our job is simple (but not easy): solve customer problems . The real question is—how do you reliably identify those problems? There’s one place you should always start. Customer Support.🙌 They know your customers better than anyone else. They talk to them every single day. They hear the frustrations, the confusion, the anger, and the unmet expectations. Go sit with them. Talk to them. And most importantly, get access to their support tickets or complaints database. That’s the Holy Grail .💥 There’s nothing more valuable than a well-maintained complaints database. From Manual Pain to AI Superpower Back in the day—before large language models were widely available—you had to manually go through this data. Teams relied on N...

Bridging the Gap: Guiding Stakeholders into the Age of AI

Bridging the gap: Guiding stakeholders into the age of AI Transitioning to the AI era isn’t always easy—especially in more traditional, old-fashioned industries. People are often reluctant to change or may believe that “if something works, why bother fixing it?” But the product lifecycle tells another story. At some point, every product will need a drastic revamp, a re-introduction to the market, or a complete phase-out. Let me walk you through my journey, and then we’ll dive into the practical aspects—which are, honestly, much more interesting! Who Am I? 👋 Hi folks! I'm Danai Aristeridou—a Product girl who landed (somewhat organically) in AI product management from a data science (DS) background. I still remember my early days in a hands-on DS role. Stakeholders struggled to understand what we were doing. There was a lack of trust and a need for control. We had to educate them, build understanding step-by-step, and iteratively move toward our goals. It wasn’t always smooth, but...

Common mistakes in product discovery sessions

What I enjoy most about the role of a Product Owner is product discovery. Many of these sessions have ended in failure 😓—but looking back, I now see those failures as invaluable. Connecting the dots helped me realize that each misstep carried a lesson. Out of these experiences, I’d like to share the most common mistakes I made (and I believe many newbies do too). Leading by example in reverse ! 💀 Using discovery sessions for validation: Let me explain by using a story. When I go to yoga, my lovely instructor always says "Use your mind like a beginner. Approach each position as if you’re experiencing it for the first time." . In Greek it's called the αρχάριος νους. Αccording to Shunryu Suzuki: In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few. I try to bring this principle into discovery sessions today—but it wasn’t always the case. In my early days, I’d tal...

danai's space

Search This Blog