Hey!
Welcome to your monthly dose of product wisdom, straight from the dualoop team.
September is here…teams are back, energy is high, and the next four months are perfect to shape the story you’ll tell at year-end!
In this edition, we look at how to make the most of these final months:
- What’s blocking impact in financial services (and what that means for everyone else),
- A discovery case on whether to launch a crypto service, and how to decide fast,
- Why AI isn’t killing the product manager,
- A quick heuristic check to spot usability gaps before year-end releases,
- and more!
Here’s to finishing 2025 strong 💪
⚡️ Don't miss it!
Where to invest your September energy:
∞ Product Management training | Brussels | September 8-9th | dualoop
Hatch Conference | Berlin I September 10-12th
∞ Introduction to designing accessible products | Online | September 16th | dualoop
∞ Product Apéro ⚡️ Product Delight | Brussels | September 17th | dualoop
ProductLab CMTY & CONF> | Berlin I September 17-18th
Experimentation Unite by Kameleoon | Paris I September 25th
Future Product Days | Copenhagen I September 24-26th
🚨 What's up in product?
Inside Europe’s financial product rooms
What's really holding back impact?
“Last quarter, the board doubled our AI budget, yet I still can’t tell them where the value will land.” — Product executive, tier-1 European bank
We’ve been having 1:1s with product leaders in banks, insurers, and fintech scaleups across EMEA.
The pattern is clear: delivery is mature, but proving business impact is still a struggle.
Our early findings reveal four recurring challenges, and many apply to any product org:
- Fragmented priorities dilute impact
Product teams in financial services are overloaded. Most are juggling too many initiatives, each pushed by a different stakeholder.
Leaders who have managed to restore focus told us they now require every initiative to have a clear business case and review OKRs monthly.
- Compliance slows more than it should
Regulation is essential, but layers between product teams and users slow learning and pivoting.
The best leaders we spoke with are finding creative ways to reconnect product teams with real users, but it is often a workaround more than a cure.
- Operational overload leaves little time for strategic work
Product leaders spend most of their time “running the machine,” and the strategic work gets pushed aside.
Many leaders hope AI will help automate the most time-consuming operational tasks, but the operational load will likely remain on human shoulders until automation matures.
- A deep talent gap
Product leaders are short on talent: Hiring PMs who understand financial services and product thinking is tough. Many leaders spend too much time coaching or supporting decisions.
Some have started partnering with universities to grow talent, but the shortfall persists in senior positions.
The conclusion so far? Financial services product teams don't struggle with “how to ship.” They struggle with how to focus, learn, and deliver measurable business outcomes.
These challenges and the practices leaders are experimenting with are lessons any product org can steal!
We’re turning these conversations into a whitepaper on the key success factors of high-performing product orgs in financial services, and we’re interviewing leaders right now. If you’re in banking, insurance, or fintech and want to shape the narrative, apply to share your perspective!
🚀 Should we launch?
What we learned from 4 weeks of discovery
“Should we launch a crypto service?”
That was the question a leading European bank faced earlier this year. The market signals looked promising, but leadership had doubts:
- What barriers were stopping adoption?
- Could a new offer meaningfully differentiate in a crowded market?
We ran a 4-week qualitative research track across 2 personas:
- Conducted and coded interviews using grounded theory
- Surfaced emotional, behavioural, and trust drivers shaping crypto readiness
- Delivered a synthesis report clarifying inhibitors and what “crypto readiness” means for each segment
The result: A clear & sharp view on where to focus (and where not to).
Skipping discovery doesn’t just waste budget; it risks building the wrong thing. A discovery track helps you avoid wasted investment by validating the right problems and opportunities first.
By September, it’s too late for casual new initiatives, but just the right time for a focused 4‑week sprint that confirms or kills ideas before they drain 2025 resources.
See how our discovery track works
⭐️ In the spotlight
Is AI killing the product manager?
We sat down with Marv Gillibrand (Head of Product at Colibri Digital, ex-McKinsey & FTSE 250 CPO) to explore how AI is reshaping product management from top to bottom.
What you’ll learn:
- Why the “Product Owner” model is officially broken
- The rise of AI-augmented teams, and where PMs still lead
- Why strategy defines the future of product work
- How AI exposes weak thinking and rewards real judgment
- What great PMs will do differently in the next 12 months
💡 Our tip: before year-end, pick one area where you currently lean on AI (writing, summarising, ideation) and deliberately practise doing it without. It will sharpen your judgment…the one thing AI can’t replace.
🎨 Are your designs still intuitive?
September is a great moment to take a step back. Not just for your roadmap, but also for your product’s usability.
When was the last time you reviewed your product against core usability principles?
Real people don’t use digital products in a perfect bubble. They multitask, get distracted, misclick, and take shortcuts, sometimes in unexpected ways. That’s the reality all designers and manufacturers need to accept.
Usability heuristics help people interact with systems more naturally and intuitively. Instead of fixed design rules, they’re flexible design principles used to catch usability problems before they become user problems.
These 10 principles are a practical way to spot weak spots when you don’t have the time or budget for full-scale testing.
Not sure what to start with? Run a quick heuristic check on your most-used feature: is it clear, consistent, and giving users the right feedback?
🚨 We're looking for guest trainers
This September 2025, we're launching a free 6-week intensive product management training for job seekers, followed by 6 weeks of real-world internship.
We’re looking for inspiring guests/trainers to share their expertise with the next generation of PMs over 1 day. Interested? DM us!
∞ What's up at dualoop
Here’s where you can learn, connect & grow with us:
Product Management training
Training | Sept 8-9th | Brussels
Level up your PM skills during our renowned 2-day, hands-on session!
Introduction to designing accessible products
Training | Sept 16th | 2h30 | Online
Design accessible products for every user.
Product Apéro - Product Delight
Event | Sept 17th | From 6:30PM | Brussels
Nesrine Changuel, product coach, speaker, and author will discuss the concept of Product Delight, an approach to building emotional connection into your product strategy.
👀 Answers to last month's poll
That’s it for this edition, thanks for reading!
See you next month, same loop, sharper products. 👋
