ProductTank Auckland: A fresh slice at product and design: why agtech is not apples to apples

You asked for more real stories, so here's a tale from the Agritech world of Hectre!

Product is hard, and every organisation does it slightly differently. We reckon there’s a good reason for this because the organisational context has a huge impact on the role of product and design, as does the size and sophistication of your customer base. Join us for an insight into how we try to do product and design in an under-resourced pre-A startup trying to serve enterprise customers and their non-tech-savvy end users, rain, hail or shine in orchards with poor internet connectivity. We'll be riffing on this topic between the sometimes corresponding and often contradictory perspectives between Product and Design and how we muddle through to try bring value to our customers and to Hectre.

Many thanks to TradeMe who hosted this event, and to Octopus Deploy for sponsoring the food and drinks for the in-person audience.

About our speakers
Aaron Croft:
Aaron is currently Group Product Manager at Hectre, overseeing product strategy for Hectre’s two products - orchard workforce management and AI fruit size / colour - and doing on-the-tools product management for the latter. Previously Head of Product at Formus Labs, he has done his obligatory time at Xero, where he met Michael, and has held a number other product roles through his career, mainly in complex AI/ML-backed SaaS.

Michael Lillis:
Michael currently spearheads product design at Hectre. He began his journey in Dublin, where he honed his skills at various agencies, notably focusing on the fintech sector. Yet another Xero Alumni, he spent five years specializing in Xero's App Ecosystem.

Passionate about crafting incredibly user-friendly software, Michael tries to blend just the right amount of research to navigate the design process efficiently. He thrives on the challenge of making complexity feel simple, ensuring that technology is not just a tool but an intuitive experience.