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Olaf
Hofmann
Director for Product Management
Tide
Olaf Hofmann has 15+ years experience working across business administration with a focus on accounting and IT industry. Olaf has mixed academic study with practical working experience. He worked as a Java Developer in different positions before he moved into Agile Project Management managing the architecture and development process up-to the launch of BSkyB's iOS mobile Sky Go application. During this he organised and managed an agile team of 13 - to ensure the delivery in time and budget.
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28 October 2026 09:15 - 09:45
The product leader's paradox: Staying close without becoming the bottleneck
As product managers progress into leadership, the job changes in a way few people prepare us for. The skills that made us successful, getting close to customers, solving problems, challenging solutions, prioritising and driving roadmaps, can quickly become the behaviours that prevent our teams from growing. This session explores the shift from being the person who makes product decisions to building an organisation that makes good product decisions without you. We'll look at how to give teams clear outcomes rather than feature ownership, establish the right guardrails for autonomy, and create signals that allow leaders to stay close to customers and product performance without dropping back into day-to-day product management.