Think globally. Understand markets.
Strategy needs a shared direction and a feel for local customer needs. This shapes how I approach international markets, brands and portfolios.
Dr Dominic Gastes
Business Strategy.
Product Innovation.
Technology Leadership.
I bring together hands-on product responsibility, building and leading product management organisations, and experience with international markets and multi-brand portfolios. This website offers my personal perspective on the choices that connect products, technology and business.
Strategy & marketsProduct innovationTechnology & leadershipOpen exchange
Perspectives
What drives me.
Markets shift, technologies open up new possibilities, and customer needs change. Businesses have to act even when information is incomplete and signals conflict. I am interested in how clear strategies, relevant products and organisations that can act take shape under these conditions.
Develop products and organisations together.
I combine hands-on product responsibility with building and leading product management. What matters is how strategy, development and the market connect in everyday work.
Think ahead with AI. Take responsibility.
AI expands our ability to assess information and develop alternatives. Professional judgement and accountability remain central to leadership for me.
My approach
Putting strategy into practice.
I work from a shared understanding of the situation towards explicit priorities and clear responsibilities. Feedback helps me check whether the chosen approach works and where it needs to change.
Understand the starting point
Bring together market, customer and business perspectives. Distinguish what we know from what we assume, and identify gaps.
Make priorities explicit
Assess customer value, business impact and technical feasibility together. Make trade-offs between products and brands explicit.
Clarify collaboration
Define roles and decision-making across product management, R&D, sales and service, suited to the development model.
Test and adapt
Use AI where it helps, review results and test assumptions against feedback. Adapt the approach when new evidence calls for it.
About me
Analytical in thought.
Practical in action.
“I am interested in how information becomes direction – and how direction becomes good products.”
My background combines industrial product and leadership responsibilities with academic work. It includes hands-on product management, building and leading PM organisations, multi-brand and portfolio management, and collaboration with agile, traditional and hybrid R&D.
I welcome personal exchange on strategy, innovation and leadership – with product professionals and people bringing other perspectives from related and different industries. This website presents my own view of these topics.
RESEARCH
Diplom in industrial engineering and a doctorate at KIT; research and teaching in marketing, innovation and decision methods.
INDUSTRY
Extensive hands-on product management and leadership experience at TRUMPF, including building and leading product management; subsequently business leadership responsibilities at JFY International.
QUALIFICATIONS
Professional Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I)
Scrum.org · Product ownership
Product management training · Product Focus ↗
Professional Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I)Scrum.org · Product ownership
Product management training · Product Focus ↗
EXCHANGE
Talks at professional conferences and associations. My previous website also documents participation in VDMA’s central product management working group.
This website presents my personal professional perspective.
Experience in detail: product management, organisation, multi-brand and AI
Managing products throughout their lifecycle.
From market and customer requirements through positioning and prioritisation to launch and further development: I know the tasks and trade-offs from first-hand experience.
- Markets, competition and customer needs
- Portfolios, requirements and roadmaps
- Value, pricing and go-to-market execution
Making product management effective.
Building and leading product management means clarifying roles, accountability and decision-making – and shaping collaboration with development, sales and service.
- Building and leading PM organisations
- Interfaces with agile R&D and other development models
- Strategic direction and operational execution
Connecting brands and product portfolios.
Multi-brand management and multi-brand portfolio management are part of my professional experience. I am interested in how brands can be clearly positioned and their product portfolios aligned with different customer needs.
- Brand roles and positioning
- Product portfolios across multiple brands
- Connecting customer value, market segments and go-to-market execution
Working through complexity systematically.
Analytical methods and AI help make information useful and evaluate alternatives. Clear criteria, professional judgement and accountability remain essential.
- Structuring market information and customer requirements
- Objectives, prioritisation and AHP
- Testing AI in everyday work and evaluating its results
Background · Talks
Share experience.
Keep the conversation going.
Selected talks on industrial practice, innovation and AI. I value discussion about how new approaches can be put to meaningful use.
Multi-Brand Management at JFY
A contribution on multi-brand strategy · VDMA Product Management Conference · 28 April 2026, Mainz
Multi-brand management & portfoliosFrom Buzz to Business: Gen AI in Product Management
Experience, lessons and ideas · 17th MSC Annual Conference for Product Managers
AI & product managementSustainability in Sheet Metal Fabrication
Technology selection and cutting technologies from a sustainability perspective · German Cutting Congress
Industry & sustainabilityFrom Customer Needs to Product Requirements
Digitalising a transformation process · with S. Häußermann · Re:Work Smart Requirements Engineering, Berlin
Customer requirementsInnovation Management for Sustained Innovation Success
VDI (suj NRW) Annual Conference · Wuppertal
Professional associations & innovationBased on published event information and the previous personal website. Talk titles are translated from German; the VDMA contribution is listed by topic.
Academic foundations
Selected publications.
Methods and questions that continue to inform my work.
2012 · A Note on Consistency Improvements of AHP Paired Comparison Data
W. Gaul and D. Gastes · Advances in Data Analysis and Classification, 6(4), pp. 289–302. Read the publication ↗
2011 · Data Collection Processes and Consistency Requirements in AHP
Doctoral dissertation · Peter Lang, Frankfurt. Focus: the Analytic Hierarchy Process and consistency in pairwise comparisons. Original German title: Erhebungsprozesse und Konsistenzanforderungen im Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP).
2011 · Designing Open Innovation Structures
D. Gastes and W. Gaul · Designing open innovation structures as a key to greater innovation success. In: The Entrepreneurship – Innovation – Marketing Interface, pp. 185–194. Original German title: Gestaltung offener Innovationsstrukturen als Schlüssel zu mehr Innovationserfolg.
Let’s talk
What question
is on your mind?
Which perspective is missing? I welcome questions, disagreement and an open exchange on strategy, product innovation and technology – including across industry boundaries.
Legal notice
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Dr. Dominic Gastes
Talstraße 30A
76228 Karlsruhe
Germany
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