Debbie Widjaja

Real-life product management is messy. I know, because I live and breathe PM challenges every day. I'm a product practitioner first and foremost, and I only write, teach, and coach on the side.I hope you'll find something that could help you here.


My product journey

I've been building and managing digital products for 12+ years.My first job out of uni was to launch and iterate on a digital recruitment solution for the Toyota group in Indonesia. (You might not be old enough to know this, but we used to use paper CVs back then.)In 2013, the digital boom finally crept into Indonesia, and I took the leap to join a startup Tada as a cofounder. Together with the team, I grew the company from seed to series B. It's still thriving today and I'm a proud advisor!In 2016, I moved to Europe and joined Meta to tackle the most pressing problems of hate speech and misinformation. When Mark Zuckerberg talked about shutting down 30k accounts ahead of the French election, he was talking about my project.After 3 years at Meta, I was itchy to be back to a startup world. I joined Multiverse as their first PM hire and built the product that led them to become the first ed-tech unicorn in the UK.I then joined Bulb, an energy-tech startup that was dubbed as the fastest growing startup in Europe by Financial Times. The energy crisis made it tough, but I had the best time there working with the most amazing people. I was the Product Director in the spin-off company of Bulb's technology, devising the product vision and strategy for 12 product teams.My last role was at Shopify as a Product Lead, helping 3 million merchants fulfill their orders more efficiently, reducing the shipping cost and time.


Writing

I abandoned the frivolity of a personal blog in favour of writing on Medium. I write about how a PM can bring 10x value to their company, not just 10% improvement. Some of my most popular articles:


Teaching

I teach Data Literacy for Product Managers on Maven, an expert-led, live learning platform. I crystallised the fundamentals of data models, experiments, and machine learning and shared mistakes I've encountered over 12 years in the tech industry.

  • "There is no other course like it! Debbie has enabled me to feel more confident when communicating with data analysts and engineers, better able to articulate what data we need and how we will measure our success." Nick, APM at The Guardian

  • "Debbie's course helped me hone further on how I can make data-informed decisions when building a product as well as measuring success factors. Debbie was very thorough, and dedicated and ensured we got detailed feedback on submissions. She has a lot of real-world experiences to share which makes the content easy to follow and understand." Shilpa, Sr PM at Microsoft

  • "Very good course for any product managers that really want to go deep into the technical aspects! Debbie would always start her lecture with real life experience which makes it easier for us to understand. Really recommend the course." Aloysius, Product Owner at Ikea


Coaching for Change

I used to do paid coaching, but now I decided to go full-on donation only to support climate change organizations. I've coached 50+ people:

  • Early-career Product Managers looking for advice to move up.

  • First time people managers looking to get guidance on people development.

  • Early founders or CEOs wanting to build their Product team or get advice on product-market fit.

  • Aspiring Product Managers needing advice to get their first PM gig.

My rate is usually £200/hour, but instead of sending that cash my way, let's send it where it matters even more—to ClientEarth. You can donate whatever amount and 100% of it goes straight to ClientEarth.Email me at debbie(at)irlproduct.com with your background and how I can help.


Debbie Widjaja

Real-life product management is messy. I know, because I live and breathe PM challenges every day.Let me help you navigate the mess.