“People don’t like problems. They prefer solutions.” That simple truth explains why CRO, experimentation, and customer centricity are still so often misunderstood.

In this end-of-season roundtable, Shiva Manjunath and Slobodan Manić look back at 2025 together with André and talk openly about what really happened beneath the hype. They discuss why AI created false confidence, why “hacks” refuse to die, why so many teams feel burned out and why focusing on humans still matters more than tools.

“AI is not the problem. Blindly trusting the output is.”

“If you don’t understand the problem, AI will just help you be wrong faster.”

This episode is not a trend forecast, it’s a candid conversation about noise, shortcuts, resistance, and what’s actually worth doubling down on in 2026 if you care about great experiences and meaningful impact.

What you’ll take away:

• Why CRO is still mistaken for “throwing spaghetti at the wall”

• How AI amplifies bad thinking when fundamentals are missing

• Why experimentation fails when teams skip problem discovery

• How burnout emerges when people are blocked from doing real work with meaningful impact

• Why customer centricity is ultimately about people, not outputs

“What people actually want are better experiences — experimentation is just a means to an end.”

Ever felt like the one-person experimentation team, stuck in meetings all day, doing everything yourself, and barely having time to build culture? Melanie Kyrklund (Specsavers) calls that situation “a form of oppression” and then shares exactly how she broke out of it.

In this episode, Melanie reveals how Specsavers shifted to a Center of Excellence model and doubled experiments from ~100 to ~200 without adding budget, not by chasing speed, but by changing ways of working and building reliable structure.

You’ll hear:

• How to scale experimentation without sacrificing quality (idea quality + process quality OKRs)

• The surprisingly practical change framework she used: motivation vs. ability (and the six sources of influence)

• Why crystal-clear governance and “how we work together” rules can turn friction into trust

If you’re trying to move from doing experiments to leading experimentation, this one is your blueprint.

Do you want to break out of the feature factory, ship fewer things that matter more, and finally get your product team aligned around real customer value?

Then this GMS episode with Martin is your fast track:

In this conversation, Senior Product Manager Martin Schröter (mobile.de) reveals the practical system he uses to:

• Turn chaotic stakeholder requests into a clear, user-centric vision

• Replace output pressure with input obsession (and why this changes everything)

• Find real customer problems fast—even with no time for formal research

• Run experiments that uncover truth, not just validate opinions

• Avoid the redesign traps and “fancy ideas” that kill product performance

• Translate research, psychology, data, and business constraints into winning decisions

You’ll learn why most product teams stay stuck in reactive mode, how to escape the “management by hope” mindset, and the underestimated power of five user interviews to change an entire roadmap.

Martin also shares the raw moments behind his first A/B test, how he handles a constant stream of bad ratings without losing motivation, and why he believes business impact is simply a byproduct of solving real user problems.

If you're a Product Manager, UX leader, Growth professional, or part of any team fighting the output treadmill, this episode gives you the mindset and tools to reclaim control, focus on what matters, and finally move the needle.