Communities of Practice - All Things Product Podcast with Teresa Torres & Petra Wille

Teresa Torres and Petra Wille discuss how product people can deliberately build communities of practice to support long-term learning. Teresa describes an introvert-friendly approach centered on a personal learning network of people she learns from without necessarily interacting with them directly. Petra contrasts this with learning alongside peers through small groups, hackathons, and local meetups. The conversation covers finding your own definition of good when starting something new, personal knowledge management as a product skill, and habits like committing to talks or courses that make learning deliberate. It matters because product work changes fast, and how you learn and with whom shapes your intuition and growth.

01Key takeaways

• Treat learning as a deliberate practice by designing your own community of practice rather than relying on chance.
• Build a personal learning network of people whose work you want to learn from, even if they never know it.
• Seek peer groups, meetups, or hackathons if you learn best collaboratively.
• Expect your standard of good to evolve as you learn; start exploring before judging quality.
• Commit publicly to talks, courses, or books to convert curiosity into deeper understanding.
• Practice personal knowledge management so insights from your learning sources stay usable.

02Key sections

What a community of practice means

The hosts frame communities of practice as groups bound by shared interest and a drive to get better at a craft. They position this as central to modern product work.

Learning from versus learning with

Teresa emphasizes learning from a curated set of people she follows, while Petra focuses on collaborative learning in peer groups. Each style suits different temperaments and goals.

Building a personal learning network

Teresa explains curating a PLN of people she wants to learn from, often unaware of her learning relationship. This is a low-pressure, introvert-friendly way to build a learning base.

Finding your definition of good

Petra argues that you often don't know what good looks like in a new area until you start learning, so exploration should come before judgment.

Making learning deliberate

The conversation highlights personal knowledge management and commitments such as talks, books, or courses as ways to turn curiosity into durable skill.

03From the post

“Listen to this episode on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts In this episode of All Things Product, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille explore how product people can intentionally design their own communities of practice—and why it matters for long-term learning and growth. Teresa shares her introvert-friendly approach to continuous”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.