Hello, friends 👋

Friends

Let us introduce you to Charlotte Bian:

Introduce yourself

Hi! I’m Charlotte Bian, or Char to many of my friends. I’m a Sydney-based product leader, podcast host, former founder and small business owner, and probably a lifelong curious learner.

My career has been a bit of an adventure! I started in accounting, somehow found my way into technology and product management, and have spent the last 15+ years exploring different industries, roles and ways of solving problems.

I love diving into complex problems, understanding how things work and, more importantly, understanding the people and needs behind them. I think that’s what drew me to Product in the first place.

Outside work, I’m equally curious about people and their stories. I love a good book, a deep conversation, discovering delicious food and occasionally disappearing into hours of uninterrupted thinking time (when life allows!).

I’m also a big believer in learning through community, which is why I co-host Product Pals, a podcast and community where we share stories, challenges and lessons from people navigating the ever-changing world of Product.

And despite spending much of my time exploring AI and new technology, I think I’m becoming increasingly fascinated by what makes us human. 

What do you do for work?

I’m currently Head of Product at Arctic Intelligence, an award-winning Regulatory Technology (RegTech) business helping organisations transform how they assess and manage financial crime risk and meet regulatory requirements.

My role covers quite a few things, from product strategy, roadmap and portfolio management to leading new product development and improving how our teams work together.

A big part of my focus at the moment is exploring how we can bring AI into both our products and our everyday workflows.

It’s an exciting time to be in Product. There are so many new possibilities, but also plenty of questions we haven’t figured out yet. I really enjoy being in that space of learning, experimenting and turning ideas into something useful for our customers.

What do you do outside work?

I moved to Australia from China on my own when I was 18. Looking back, so much of my personal and professional growth came from the communities I found along the way, Toastmasters, Agile meetups, Product & Tech conferences, and many wonderful people who were generous enough to share their knowledge and experiences with me.

I genuinely believe in the power of peer mentorship. Learning doesn’t always mean doing a formal training course. Sometimes the most valuable learning comes from someone who’s figuring out the same challenge or in the similar domain as me.

That’s a big reason why I co-founded Product Pals, a podcast and community for product and tech people.

We’re trying to create a space where people can bring real challenges, learn from each other, experiment together and build meaningful relationships. It’s still evolving, and that’s part of the fun!

As for relaxing, I love finding a nice café, enjoying delicious food and getting lost in a good book.

And perhaps a slightly unusual one, I actually enjoy cleaning my house while listening to podcasts or audiobooks. It’s strangely therapeutic, and I get to feel productive while doing something completely unrelated to work.

As Head of Product at Arctic Intelligence, you’re embedding AI into both the product and how your team works. In RegTech, where outputs need to stand up in front of boards and regulators, how do you decide where AI belongs and where it doesn’t?

This is something we’re still actively experimenting with, and I don’t think anyone has all the answers yet.

One principle we try to follow is not to use AI just for the sake of AI.

We spend a lot of time talking to our existing and potential customers to understand their actual problems, pain points and workflows before deciding what technology might help.

AI creates some really exciting opportunities, particularly in areas where people spend significant time processing information, analysing data or preparing reports.

But in RegTech, accuracy, transparency and trust are incredibly important. A confident-sounding answer isn’t necessarily a correct answer, and the consequences of getting things wrong can be significant.

So we’re approaching our AI solutions extremely carefully

On one hand, we’re experimenting with different use cases, building prototypes and learning quickly through customer feedback.

On the other, we’re investing in the foundations and guardrails needed to make AI reliable and responsible. That includes how we evaluate outputs, manage data, build human review into workflows and make sure people understand what the AI is doing.

I think the important question isn’t just, “Can AI do this?” but, “Should AI do this, and how do we make sure it genuinely helps people make better decisions?”

For me, AI should support human judgement, not quietly replace it.

Your organisation brought on a couple of grads recently, when many companies are pulling back on junior hiring. How did that decision come about, and what surprised you about working with them?

We recently welcomed two amazing AI developers, Nithya and Gurtej, from the UNSW AI Society.

They’re both incredibly intelligent, hardworking and curious individuals, and it’s been such a pleasure working with them.

As we’re exploring new AI opportunities, we wanted to bring in people who are excited about experimenting, learning and building things.

What I’ve really enjoyed is the fresh perspective they bring. They don’t necessarily come with years of experience or assumptions about how things should be done, which can actually be a wonderful thing when you’re working with emerging technology.

They ask questions, challenge ideas and are willing to try things out.

And I think the learning goes both ways. We can share our experience in product development, customer problems and working in a regulated industry, while they bring fresh technical knowledge, new ideas and perspectives to our product and way of working.

I strongly believe we need to keep creating opportunities for people at the beginning of their careers, especially now.

AI might be changing what entry-level work looks like, but we still need to develop the next generation of thinkers, builders and leaders.

Through Product Pals, you’ve interviewed many product managers and founders. From those conversations, what’s the biggest shift you’re seeing in what good product management looks like in the age of AI?

One of the biggest changes I’m seeing is that the boundaries between roles are becoming much more blurred.

Product managers are designing, prototyping and sometimes even building products ourselves with all sorts of AI tools and workflow. Designers are beyond building design systems and doing nice visuals, and engineers are becoming more involved in product thinking.

I actually find this quite exciting!

At the same time, I don’t think anyone has figured out the perfect AI operating model yet. Every organisation is experimenting with different tools, team structures and ways of working.

But while the roles, structures and ways of working are changing, I think the core of good product management remains the same, and perhaps becomes even more important.

When building things becomes faster and easier, knowing what problems are actually worth solving becomes more important, not less.

Good product management has always been about understanding people, asking the right questions, making trade-offs and bringing different perspectives together.

AI doesn’t make those skills less relevant. If anything, I think it makes them more valuable.

And perhaps we need to remind ourselves that we don’t have to learn every new tool or chase every trend.

Sometimes the best thing we can do is slow down, think deeply and have a good meaningful conversation with another human.

Any podcast you are currently listening to, or a book you are reading?

I’m a regular listener of Lenny’s Podcast, I rarely miss an episode!

I’ve also recently started picking up more sci-fi books. I’m a little late to the party, but I’m currently reading Douglas Adams’ sci-fi comedy classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

I’m thoroughly enjoying it, although I’m not sure why it took me this long to discover it!

What is your favourite tool or resource, and why?

My favourite tool at the moment is probably Claude. I’ve set up so many skills, workflows and projects around it that I’m not sure I can work without it anymore!

But if I had to choose my most valuable resource, it would definitely be the amazing product and technology community I’m lucky enough to be part of.

Whenever I’m stuck, trying to figure something out or just need a different perspective, there are always people I can reach out to.

It’s great to have both options: AI when I want to explore something quickly, and wonderful humans when I need experience, perspective and a good conversation.

Your one-sentence work-related advice.

While we’re all busy figuring out how to work with AI, don’t forget to look after the humans in our ecosystem, yourself, your teammates and your customers, because they’re what make the work meaningful and wonderful!