From “Mini-CEO” to Product Role System

Product managers are no longer simply positioned at the center of digital transformation as “CEOs of the Product” — they are becoming strategic orchestrators of value creation systems.

Digital technologies, artificial intelligence, data-driven business models, and platform economies are fundamentally reshaping markets. Customer expectations are rising, innovation cycles are becoming shorter, and value creation is shifting away from individual products toward connected solutions, services, and digital ecosystems.

As a result, the role of Product Management is changing as well.

The traditional generalist is increasingly evolving into an orchestrating specialist: roles are becoming more differentiated across areas such as innovation, growth, data & AI, platform strategy, and portfolio management. At the same time, the horizontal responsibility remains — across market, technology, business, and organization.

Today, product strategies are becoming more strongly outcome-oriented. What matters most is no longer primarily features or functionality, but measurable customer value, sustainable business models, and scalable value creation. Agile methods, data-driven decision-making, experimentation, and product analytics are becoming standard practice.

Connected products, digital twins, AI-powered services, intelligent supply chains, and cross-industry ecosystems are accelerating this paradigm shift: away from isolated products and toward intelligent, service-based, and increasingly autonomous systems.

At the same time, expectations around responsibility and governance are growing. Data protection, ethical AI, sustainability, and regulatory frameworks are becoming integral parts of modern product strategy.

The Strategy Day in Essen uses concrete use cases, business models, and organizational models to show how Product Management can be systematically developed further — strategically, technologically, and culturally.

This intensive format helps you to

• take your personal PM capabilities to the next level
• understand new role and operating models
• assess AI- and data-driven approaches in a practical context
• systematically advance the digital maturity of your organization

Expert knowledge and networking

• Inspiring talks: cutting-edge business cases, best management practices, analyses, and methods
• Workshops and fireside chats
• Networking conversations, easily prepared via the app
• Online community: networking beyond the event day

 

Topics

 

The Evolution of Product Management

From generalist to orchestrating specialist

• The new role model in Product Management: generalist vs. specialization
• Product Manager vs. Product Owner vs. Growth PM vs. AI PM
• Career paths & skill architecture in Product Management
• Product Management as a strategic orchestrator within the organization
• Product leadership & influence without authority

 

Strategy & Value Creation

Product strategy as a value creation engine

• Outcome-based Product Management: OKRs & value hypotheses
• Digital business models & monetization strategies
• Subscription, XaaS & outcome-based models
• Platform & ecosystem strategies
• Portfolio and investment logic in Product Management
• Make-or-buy & partner strategies

 

Innovation & New Business Design

From idea to scalable value creation

• Lean startup & hypothesis-driven development
• Discovery vs. delivery: dual-track approaches
• Experiment design & MVP validation
• Corporate venturing & incubation models
• Business model innovation
• Digital value creation

 

Data, AI & Intelligence-driven Products

AI-enabled Product Management

• AI as part of the product: use cases & architecture
• Data Product Management
• Product analytics & experimentation
• Big data & predictive analytics
• Explainable & responsible AI
• AI governance & regulatory requirements
• Digital twins & simulation

 

Customer & Experience Excellence

Customer centricity 2.0

• Customer journey orchestration
• UX strategy & experience design
• Product-led growth
• Retention & lifecycle management
• Community & ecosystem engagement
• Data-driven personalization

 

Operations & Delivery Excellence

Where efficiency meets strategic impact

• Agile organization & scaled models
• Product operating model
• Toolchain & automation
• Complexity & variant management
• Service Management 4.0 & digital after-sales processes
• KPI systems & performance dashboards

 

Governance, Sustainability & Responsibility

Future-ready product responsibility

• ESG & sustainability in product design
• Circular economy & lifecycle thinking
• Data protection & privacy by design
• Ethics of digital products
• Resilience & risk management