The COLAB Product Community Difference
At Colab, we're proud of the community we've built around Product Management Learning. Ultimately it what makes us stand out in the environment of professional development.
Hi! We’re Adam, Toby, and Lucas — 3 product professionals and friends from New Zealand. Together, we founded COLAB — a community for product professionals to learn, share, and grow. Over the past 6 months, we’ve made it our mission to connect product professionals and drive collective learning. With two cohorts under our belt and many more planned for the year, we’d like to share how COLAB is different from the other professional communities out there.
As product professionals, we’ve found that the best way to grow is to learn through shared experiences. Informally, we’ve learned through friends and colleagues — creating our own internal framework of best practices. What was missing was a structure to validate these frameworks and learn openly, without judgment or fear of competition.
That missing structure and the desire for a reassuring safety net of growth-minded peers inspired us to change up the typical ‘product community’ structure with COLAB. Here are some of the things that sets COLAB apart:
Cohort size and diversity
We’re intentionally small — no more than 12 people per cohort.
Why:
- Everyone’s voice is heard.
- Everyone has ample time to think and process information, and explore solutions to complex challenges.
- Our members appreciate the diversity of thought and backgrounds. For example, not everyone started as a product manager, but are able to share successes and learnings from their different experiences.
- Relationships and trust can be formed faster and easier within a small group.
We’re member-led, not book-led
Members create the discussion topics, instead of being given a set curriculum.
Why:
- This allows members to discuss issues that are most pressing or interesting to them at the very moment. This is a great way to capture context, discuss nuance, and ensures that the discussion material is up-to-date and relevant to everyone.
- Members get the chance to discuss real-world projects, concepts, and areas of product that they struggle with and need help with.
- Each member learns through shared experiences instead of being confined to formal frameworks.
Manageable cadence and commitment
- Over six weeks, our members commit to learning, discussing, and contributing to the topics that matter most to them.
- After the six weeks are over, members stay connected through our Slack channels and book club discussions.
Mentoring & coaching opportunities
- We want to facilitate open, practical discussions that will help junior product professionals progress in their careers and help senior product leaders continuously refine their leadership skills.
The COLAB experience is one that we hope resonates with aspiring and experienced product professionals out there. We’re continuously refining our approach and learning from each cohort. We’re excited to welcome Cohort 3 very soon, and we hope to continue bringing the COLAB difference to more product professionals this year.
To see what our previous cohorts came up with, read on to discover Cohort 1’s best product management tip!
To find out more about COLAB check us out at www.colabcohorts.com or follow us on Linkedin.