Basti Witsker
Head of Product & Coaching @ Spaceteams
Head of Product & Coaching @ Spaceteams
Köln, Germany
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Basti Witsker has over a decade of experience in product management, with a background that includes roles at Dataport, Eventim, and FREE NOW. Today, he’s a co-founder and Head of Product at Spaceteams, a software service provider building custom solutions and working closely with clients to tackle real-world challenges in digital transformation and product development.
In his talks, Basti shares hands-on lessons and best practices from the many teams and organizations he’s worked with – always with a focus on what actually works, not just what looks good on a slide.
Outside of work, he’s a dad, a sports enthusiast (watching and playing), a regular at concerts, and part of the organizing team behind a local music festival.
Basti Witsker verfügt über mehr als zehn Jahre Erfahrung im Software Produktmanagement, unter anderem bei Dataport, Eventim und FREE NOW. Basti ist Mitgründer und Head of Product & Coaching bei Spaceteams, einem Softwaredienstleister, der maßgeschneiderte Lösungen entwickelt und eng mit Kunden zusammenarbeitet, um reale Herausforderungen der digitalen Transformation und Produktentwicklung zu meistern.
In seinen Vorträgen teilt Basti praktische Erfahrungen und Best Practices aus den zahlreichen Teams und Organisationen, mit denen er zusammengearbeitet hat – immer mit dem Fokus auf dem, was tatsächlich funktioniert, nicht nur auf dem, was auf einer Folie gut aussieht.
Abseits der Arbeit ist er Familienvater, begeisterter Sportfan, geht regelmäßig auf Konzerte und engagiert sich im Organisationsteam eines lokalen Musikfestivals.
Area of Expertise
Topics
"Make or Buy": When We Recommend Off-the-Shelf Software as a Software Service Provider en
As a provider of custom software services, we are increasingly being called in when the implementation of off-the-shelf software goes awry. The frustration in these projects is often high, as many expectations were pinned on the implementation of the purchased software.
In this talk, we aim to assist decision-makers in asking the right questions before making a Make vs. Buy decision. For example:
Is the off-the-shelf software being used for a standard process or one that differentiates from the competition?
Am I willing and able to adapt my process to fit the software?
From Models to Momentum: Avoiding the Post-Workshop Stall en
Congrats! You just wrapped up an intense two-day Event Storming session.
You navigated political minefields, got even the toughest stakeholders on board, and walked away with a deep understanding of the domain.
All project risks are gone now, right?
Right?
Well… not quite.
Hate to break it to you, but that was just the first step on a rocky road to real project success.
But don’t worry – you don’t have to walk it alone.
In this talk, I’ll share proven practices to help you navigate the tricky phase after your wonderful DDD collaboration workshop.
You’ll learn how to:
- Ensure you’re building the best possible technical solution – not just a plausible one
- Reduce feasibility risk
- Build trust with stakeholders through radical transparency
- Keep alignment high and stress levels low – for you and your team
External Developers: Smart Investment or Money Pit? en
Let’s be honest: Bringing in external developers is often more about hope than strategy. “We just need more hands!” – Sound familiar? Too often, the result is wasted budget, missed outcomes, and blurred accountability. Which, understandably, makes your CFO go ballistic.
As a software service provider, I’ve had dozens of conversations about this – and ran a full product discovery with our clients to answer a simple question: When does external development actually make sense?
Spoiler: It depends. But there are many situations where it clearly doesn’t.
The good news? You can dramatically lower the risk of using external help with no outcome by setting it up the right way.
In this talk, I’ll share what I’ve learned from both sides of the table – and offer a practical framework to help product people.
If you’ve ever felt stuck between “too little capacity” and “too much risk,” this talk is for you.
So... I killed my product. Am I still invited to lunch? en de
Product Managers are supposed to be rational, experimental, and brutally honest. If something doesn’t work – kill it! Simple, right?
Well... not really.
Because that product? It’s your baby. You named it. You fought for it. You maybe even skipped a vacation for it. And now you're supposed to shut it down? And tell your boss their empire just got smaller?
In this talk, we’ll ask ourselves some uncomfortable but essential questions:
- How can we overcome our own bias?
- Would you really be ready to pull the plug?
- Is your organization truly prepared for that moment?
- What needs to happen before that decision can be made?
- And what can still go wrong after you do the right thing?
We’ll explore the human, political, and emotional layers of ending a product. With a wink, a few laughs, and hopefully some clarity about how to make bold decisions – and survive them.
„Kill your baby = kill your job?” – Warum wir ehrliche Produktentscheidungen predigen, aber selten a en de
Product Owner und Produktmanager*innen sollen datengetrieben, experimentell und mutig entscheiden, ob ihr Produkt wirklich Mehrwert liefert – oder nicht. Doch was passiert, wenn die ehrliche Antwort lautet: Nein?
In vielen Organisationen ist die Idee vom „Produkt killen” theoretisch erwünscht – praktisch aber ein Karriere-Risiko. Denn: Wer sagt schon gern, dass sein Projekt keinen Sinn mehr macht? Wie wirkt sich so eine Entscheidung auf die eigene Rolle aus? Und was, wenn das Produkt gleichzeitig ein Machtinstrument im Organigramm ist – mit Team, Budget, Status?
In diesem Talk zeige ich, warum die Fähigkeit, ein Produkt zu beenden, oft nicht an der Einsicht der POs scheitert – sondern an einer Organisation, die diese Konsequenz gar nicht ernsthaft vorgesehen hat. Und ich stelle zur Diskussion: Was müsste sich ändern, damit "kill your baby" nicht gleichbedeutend ist mit "kill your job"?
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