Productly Speaking: Real Stories for Product Managers · 40 min
What if your path into product management started behind a coffee counter, in the middle of a global pandemic? In this episode, Karl talks with Flora Taagen about a journey into product management that looks nothing like a straight line. Flora shares how she went from studying computer science to serving coffee during COVID, where suddenly “making coffee” also meant rethinking safety, budgets, and how a small business survives when the rules change every week. That experience, it turns out, translated surprisingly well into product work. She also reflects on discovering the PM role for the first time through a Microsoft program led by two women who helped her see that big‑picture thinking, empathy, and curiosity mattered just as much as technical depth. From volunteering in healthcare to working on Azure Linux with teammates spread across the world, Flora talks candidly about learning where she adds the most value and how customer impact became her guiding motivation.
S2E3: Navigating the Intersection of Product and Marketing with Austin Fuller65 / 100
S5E2: Finding Balance in Product Management with Katie Tamblin
S4E3: Beyond Dogfooding: Balancing Complexity and Market Insight with Jake Bowen-Bate
S2E1: Mastering the Craft of Product Management with Michael Palmer and Evie Brockwell
S1E7: The Triad of Design, Engineering, and Product with Johannes Marbach and Callum Upfield