As 2025 comes to a close, I’m grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the product community here in Frankfurt and the Rhein Main area alongside Steffen and Marisa. This year brought remarkable speakers, meaningful conversations, and a growing community of product professionals dedicated to solving real problems and creating genuine impact.
July 2, 2025: Product Field meets ProductTank Frankfurt – A Double Celebration
We kicked off the summer with something special: celebrating both 10 years of Product Field and 10 years of ProductTank Frankfurt & Rhein Main. KP and Michael from Product Field joined us at codecentric AG Frankfurt to share insights from over 1,000 workshops they’ve facilitated over the past decade.
The evening combined learning and networking as attendees got hands on with the Product Field framework, a strategic sense making tool that has helped thousands of teams navigate product complexity. Despite the heat, the energy in the room was exceptional, fueled by pizza, cold drinks, and the kind of conversations that only happen when product people gather in person.
Photoalbum: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6HNwcgWiCNBQcPxZA
LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/patricksauerwein_impact-first-product-teams-are-your-teams-activity-7363449702274539521-Oa1Z
October 20, 2025: Impact First Product Teams
On a Monday evening in October, we welcomed Matt LeMay from London to share insights from his new book “Impact First Product Teams“. Matt, author of the beloved “Product Management in Practice“, has worked with companies like Spotify, Google, Mailchimp, and SumUp.
His session challenged us with essential questions: Is your product team a good investment for the business? Are you delivering value in clear enough terms that your CFO could advocate for you? Matt’s practical wisdom resonated perfectly with the challenges product teams face today, especially as we navigate the AI era. His contextualization of frameworks and actionable approaches gave us tools we could apply immediately in our daily work.
The evening was made even more special by signed copies of his book and, most importantly, the time spent with wonderful people who make this community what it is.
Photoalbum: https://photos.app.goo.gl/WTqb3DL1e2jxutRY9
LinkedIn Post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/patricksauerwein_productmanagement-producttank-frankfurt-activity-7386695100669632512-GzGw
November 20, 2025: Making Real Progress
Our final in person event of the year brought Tim Herbig to codecentric AG Frankfurt to discuss his latest book “Real Progress“. Many teams are busy without being truly effective: customer interviews, OKRs, and roadmaps all look good on paper, but the fundamental question remains: Does it really make a difference?
Tim addressed exactly this challenge, showing how to uncover “alibi progress” and achieve real impact by treating three key domains as an integrated system: Product Strategy that Drives Priorities, Product OKRs that Measure Progress, and Product Discovery that Reduces Uncertainty.
For me personally, this evening marked a milestone as my first time moderating as a ProductTank host, including, of course, a memorable faux pas that I’ll be laughing about for a while. Marisa’s preparation ensured everything ran smoothly, complete with a wonderful festive atmosphere featuring Christmas music, decorations, Spekulatius, and Lebkuchen.
Photoalbum: https://photos.app.goo.gl/GC4Kvr7WrDHsteAA9
LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/patricksauerwein_productmanagement-producttank-frankfurt-activity-7398616428662181888-OYIY
December 15, 2025: Closing the Year Online
We closed out 2025 with an online session featuring Matt LeMay once again. Due to technical challenges, train outages, and storms during his October tour across Frankfurt, Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Amsterdam, many couldn’t attend his sessions. This online gathering gave our community another opportunity to learn from Matt’s insights on building impact first product teams: another way to reflect on the year and prepare for 2026 with sharper focus and clearer value.
Looking Ahead to 2026
As we move into the new year, we’re exploring themes around product management and AI, as well as diversification. But as always, our focus remains on solving real life problems through products and generating genuine impact rather than chasing trends or technology.
I’m deeply grateful to be part of the ProductTank organizing team with Marisa and Steffen. The energy from colleagues, returning community members, and new faces joining the conversation continues to inspire everything we do. Thank you to everyone who attended our events this year, to our exceptional speakers, and to codecentric AG for hosting us.
Here’s to another year of learning, connecting, and building better products together.
Happy holidays, and see you in 2026!
Stay connected with ProductTank Frankfurt:
- Join our Meetup group: https://www.meetup.com/producttank-frankfurt-rhein-main/
- Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/producttankfrankfurt/
Personal Blog of Patrick Sauerwein 