S3E1: Teaching Product Through Real World Experiences: A Conversation with Adil Hussain

What if you were already doing product work years before you ever heard the job title?In this episode, Karl talks with Adil Hussain about a path into product management that started with a teenage side project and quietly grew into a career. Adil shares how, at just 14, he and a co‑founder were building websites, talking to users, and figuring out what people actually needed, without realizing they were doing product work at all. It wasn’t until much later, sitting in a tiny meeting room with a manager and a PM, that the pieces finally clicked.Adil reflects on coming from customer support, spending his days on the phone with real users, hearing frustrations firsthand, and mentally sketching how he would fix things if the product were his. That experience shaped how he thinks about saying no, telling better stories, and carrying responsibility once you’re no longer allowed to quietly promise “we’ll add it to the backlog.”The conversation also weaves through Adil’s time in government and the private sector, including a moment helping his mum renew her passport online that crystallized what good digital services can feel like when they actually work. Along the way, he talks candidly about mentoring aspiring PMs, breaking down buzzwords into plain language, and why real product work looks nothing like the polished posts you see online.This is a warm, grounded episode about learning product by doing it, caring deeply about users, and discovering that the most valuable skills often come from places that don’t look like “product” at all.Resources MentionedGOV.UK Design SystemUK Government Digital Service (GDS)GDS Service StandardGDS Product Management Capability FrameworkKey Quotes“Product management for me is about solving those problems in the right way and also making sure that we're building really good user experiences.”“I come across people that I mentor, that I teach or just have normal conversations with who aspire to break into product… and don’t realize they’re already doing product-style thinking.”“Being able to tell good stories as a product manager and being able to tell a narrative… it’s very, very important.”Connect with AdilInterested in Adil’s bootcamp or mentorship?Reach out to him on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adilh1/