Topic · 71 pieces

AI Product Management

AI did not make product management harder. It collapsed the cost of the parts PMs were trained to be good at, and left the parts nobody trained for.

The role changed underneath the people doing it. Producing options got cheap, so selection became the job; writing the spec got cheap, so the prototype became the spec; hearing customers got cheap, so the bottleneck moved to deciding what you heard means. These posts trace that shift one artifact at a time. Start with the PRD piece if you want the argument, start with the prototyping piece if you want something to do this week.

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  1. 01The FDE Is the Product Builder Wearing a Visitor BadgeOpenAI raised $4 billion for a deployment company. Anthropic launched a $1.5 billion one. The role they hire for is the Product Builder, from the services side.7 min read
  2. 02Cagan's Definition Is Right. The Weights Are Wrong.Cagan maps Benedict Evans's three product skills onto his risk framework. The skills are right. Their AI exposure is wildly different, and that is the story.8 min read
  3. 03Polish Stopped Being EvidenceFidelity used to be a proxy for conviction in design review. AI broke that proxy, so the work that looks most finished now gets the shallowest critique.7 min read

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71 pieces
  1. 01The FDE Is the Product Builder Wearing a Visitor BadgeOpenAI raised $4 billion for a deployment company. Anthropic launched a $1.5 billion one. The role they hire for is the Product Builder, from the services side.7 min readSep 26
  2. 02Cagan's Definition Is Right. The Weights Are Wrong.Cagan maps Benedict Evans's three product skills onto his risk framework. The skills are right. Their AI exposure is wildly different, and that is the story.8 min readSep 26
  3. 03Polish Stopped Being EvidenceFidelity used to be a proxy for conviction in design review. AI broke that proxy, so the work that looks most finished now gets the shallowest critique.7 min readSep 26
  4. 04The Week the Prototype Beat the SpecA twelve-page spec we argued over for three weeks lost to a prototype I built in an afternoon. The number that ended it, and what I stopped doing.7 min readAug 26
  5. 05What Landing Actually IsShipping is not landing. Landing is when a customer's behavior durably changes and the value sticks. A working definition, and the four ways it fails.7 min readAug 26
  6. 06What Replaces the PM Ladder When the Deliverables Are GoneIf documents were the evidence promotions ran on, and AI collapsed them, leveling needs a new currency. What counts as evidence from L4 to Principal.7 min readAug 26
  7. 07Twelve Builders, Twelve Products, Zero LandingsThe 2026 CPO Insights Report says product builders replace PMs by 2030. The role is real. The framing points at building, just as building stopped binding.7 min readAug 26
  8. 08How I Build Eval RubricsThe eval rubric method I actually use: grade thirty outputs first, tie every dimension to downside exposure, and go binary wherever you can.7 min readJul 26
  9. 09AI Can't Understand the User. That User Is Disappearing.The best defense of the human PM is that AI can't understand the user. But that user is a departmental role, and agents are dissolving the departments.8 min readJul 26
  10. 10Is This Product Bet Group Stage or Knockout? Reversible vs. IrreversibleThe World Cup is two tournaments bolted together. Knowing whether a product decision is group stage or knockout is the same question as downside exposure.5 min readJul 26
  11. 11Stage Wins or the Yellow Jersey: You Don't Win the Tour by Winning StagesThe rider with the most stage wins almost never wins the Tour. A model for AI product management: cumulative outcome over heroics, on a team you never see.4 min readJul 26
  12. 12The Product Builder Was Never About CodingLinkedIn replaced its APM program with Product Builder and framed it as generalists. The real shift is collapsing the distance between deciding and making.3 min readJul 26
  13. 13The PRD Was Already Dead. Slack Proved It in Public.Slack is running tiny cross-functional squads that prototype continuously instead of committing to fixed roadmaps. The org-chart version of the PRD collapse.3 min readJul 26
  14. 14Stop Picking Winners. Design the Tournament.Cheap prototyping did not kill product judgment. It moved the decision from picking the winner to seeding the bracket of what gets prototyped at all.4 min readJul 26
  15. 15Rank AI Features by Downside Exposure, Not EngagementEngagement rewards features people fiddle with. Rank AI features by downside exposure instead: how fast a silent 20% quality drop would cost you customers.4 min readJul 26
  16. 16Storytelling for PMs: The Skill That Decides Whose Evidence WinsStorytelling for PMs is not polish, it is how decisions get made. Three frameworks, the retelling test, and a 4-week practice plan to win the room.8 min readJul 26
  17. 17Downside Exposure, Extended: When the Model Is Wrong About YouDownside exposure covered your AI feature failing a user. The second half: when an AI you don't control represents you inaccurately to a buyer.3 min readJul 26
  18. 18The PRD Collapsed Into Three Artifacts (Brief, Prototype, Eval)The PRD collapsed into a one-page brief, a prototype, and an eval. Answering the four objections 21 PMs raised, with copy-paste templates.16 min readJul 26
  19. 19The PR/FAQ Template: Amazon's Working Backwards for Your BetsA complete PR/FAQ template: press release skeleton, external and internal FAQ, the narrative meeting protocol, and when not to use it. Markdown and Word.6 min readJul 26
  20. 20AI Evaluators Are Your New PM AudienceAI systems now decide if your product gets recommended before a human sees it. Product legibility to a model is a new PM deliverable, not SEO reskinned.3 min readJun 26
  21. 21PM Days 61 to 90: Own One Bet and Kill One CommitmentPM days 61 to 90 in a new job: put your name on one falsifiable bet, kill one inherited commitment, and close the loop with a day-90 note to your manager.10 min readJun 26
  22. 22The Decision Log Template: Train Judgment Like a MuscleA decision log template for PMs: schema, worked examples, the weekly 10-minute ritual, and the quarterly calibration review. Markdown and Excel.6 min readJun 26
  23. 23PM Days 31 to 60: Ship One Artifact That CompoundsPM days 31 to 60 in a new job: skip the quick win, ship one compounding artifact. Four options, selection criteria, a worked example, and the failure modes.10 min readJun 26
  24. 24I'm a Company of One Because I Refused to Vibe CodeI crossed ~$1.5M ARR solo in under two months. It only works because I built agentic engineering, not vibe coding. The substrate does the carrying.5 min readJun 26
  25. 25Kill the 'I Built It in a Weekend' FlexSpeed to demo is a vanity metric. The 'I built it in a weekend' flex measures the cheapest, least durable thing. Ask if it was still running the weekend after.4 min readJun 26
  26. 26The Mental Models That Break When Building Gets CheapMost decision frameworks quietly price building as scarce. When AI makes building cheap, four of them invert and start giving the wrong answer.8 min readJun 26
  27. 27The Vibe Coding Crossover Point: Google's New SDLC WhitepaperGoogle's whitepaper puts the vibe coding crossover at 3 to 10x. The part that costs you is the quiet graduation, and it is a CapEx versus OpEx call.7 min readJun 26
  28. 28The Product Strategy Memo Template (Pyramid Principle)A six-page SCQA strategy memo template after Minto: answer first, three grouped arguments with evidence slots, anti-bets, premortem risks, and the ask.5 min readJun 26
  29. 29Your First 30 Days as a PM: Build a Signal Map, Skip the Coffee ChatsFirst 30 days as a PM in a new job: run decision archaeology, build a signal map of where truth enters the building, and write the manager contract.9 min readJun 26
  30. 30PM Skills 2.0 Is Half a Funeral and Half a BlueprintPaweł Huryn's PM Skills 2.0 review: which of the 68 Claude skills to install (red-team-prd, ship-check) and which half embalms a dying PM role.8 min readJun 26
  31. 31Cagan Built the Church. I Argue We Don't Need One.Marty Cagan's product operating model optimizes for a constraint AI erased. The case for product builders over empowered PMs, and where my thesis breaks.9 min readJun 26
  32. 32The Prototype Graveyard: Why Cheap Demos Kill Good IdeasPrototype-first is my thesis, and it has a failure mode no one names. When building is free, the demo replaces the argument and good ideas die in review.6 min readJun 26
  33. 33The PM/PO Split Is Broken. Merging Them Misses the Point.Paweł Huryn is right that splitting PM and Product Owner is broken. The fix isn't merging them. It's killing the Scrum frame the roles exist inside.7 min readMay 26
  34. 34Three Designer Archetypes in 2026. The PM Split Is the Same Shape.Jenny Wen at Claude hires three designer archetypes; the traditional senior isn't one. The same split hits PMs: builder, specialist, prototype-coder.7 min readMay 26
  35. 35The PM Interview Question I'd Refuse to Answer in 2026PM interview red flags 2026: three questions that signal a translator PM role, three that signal a builder PM role, and the polite exit script for a mismatch.8 min readMay 26
  36. 36Ship Story: The Discovery Week I Ran With Three Agents and No CallsAI agent discovery week, no live customer calls. Three agents (triage, theme synthesizer, opportunity ranker), 20 hours total. Stack, inputs, where it broke.8 min readMay 26
  37. 37The 20-Minute Customer Call Triage AgentCustomer call triage agent: 60-minute call to tagged, theme-clustered artifact with a one-line action in 20 minutes. Stack, prompt, eval rubric, batch run.7 min readMay 26
  38. 38PMs Should Vibe Code Internal Tools, Not Customer FeaturesVibe coding with Claude Code is the best new skill for PMs. But shipping vibe-coded features to customers is malpractice. Build internal tools instead.7 min readMay 26
  39. 39Product Management Isn't Dead. It Escaped the Product Team.Aaron Levie called the emerging role 'agent operator.' The cleaner name: Product Builder plus Agent Operator. Same skill, multiplied across every P&L function.9 min readMay 26
  40. 40Six pushbacks I keep hearing on vibe codingSix confusions I hear most when I say vibe coding isn't a strategy: 'demos sell deals,' 'speed beats clarity,' 'evals slow us down.' Here's how I respond.6 min readMay 26
  41. 41Customer Discovery When Your Customer Is an AgentContinuous discovery assumes a human customer. When your customer is an agent, six methods apply: agent telemetry, failure-mode interviews, capability audits.13 min readMay 26
  42. 42Kill the OKR. The Quarterly Cycle Is Now a Liability.The 12-week OKR cycle is now a liability. Replace it with a Rolling Outcome Ledger: 3-7 active bets, 2-4 week decision deadlines, no end-of-quarter scramble.12 min readMay 26
  43. 43Survivorship Bias in AI: Interview the Planes That Didn't Come BackWald's WWII bomber lesson still runs product management. AI worsens the bias, but agents finally make missing data affordable to study. Here's how.8 min readMay 26
  44. 44Kill the Feature Request Queue: Your Backlog Is a SignalYour 847-item backlog rationed scarce engineering time. Three replacements: signal synthesis, prototype-first investigation, and an outcome bet ledger.10 min readMay 26
  45. 45Continuous Discovery Doesn't Scale for AI-Native ProductsTeresa Torres' continuous discovery is the right answer for human-centric SaaS and the wrong answer for agent products. The punctuated discovery alternative.9 min readMay 26
  46. 46Kill the APM Program. Hire, Train, Promote Builders.LinkedIn CPO Tomer Cohen killed the APM program. The 12-week Product Builder apprenticeship replaces it: four prototypes, one production ship, no rotation.10 min readMay 26
  47. 47Against Product Intuition: Why I Stopped Trusting MineWhy I stopped trusting my product intuition after 20 years. It is pattern-matching on a world that no longer exists, and AI rotates the patterns faster.8 min readMay 26
  48. 48Kill the PRD. The Prototype Is the Spec.The PRD was a 2015 solution to a 2015 problem. Three artifacts replace it: a working prototype (built in Claude Code), an eval rubric, and a one-page README.11 min readMay 26
  49. 49200 PM Job Descriptions Reviewed: 98% Hire for a Dead Job200 PM job descriptions audited. 196 could have been written in 2022. The four tells of a dead JD, four tells of a live one, and a before-and-after rewrite.10 min readApr 26
  50. 50pragmatic-pm-ai-skills Review: A Claude Skill That Tightens PM OutputReview of Valentin Brain's pragmatic-pm-ai-skills: a Claude Skill library that makes PM-AI output incentive-aware, evidence-tied, and free of generic advice.8 min readApr 26
  51. 51How PMs Ship Their First Pull Request With AI ToolsFour-level PM PR ladder, PLANNING.md templates, PM PR review skill file, and CTO pitch docs. Built from real coaching engagements across B2B SaaS orgs.16 min readApr 26
  52. 52Your Product KPIs Are Your Job, DailyA product builder without a daily KPI ritual drives with the rear-view mirror. Pick three KPIs, watch them every morning, elevate to OKRs when they slip.11 min readApr 26
  53. 53Mob Prototyping: One Day, One Room, One PrototypeOne day a week, your PM, designer, and engineer build a working prototype together. Cheaper than spec-driven handoffs. Better output than solo prototyping.13 min readApr 26
  54. 54Build a PM Second Brain from Meeting RecordingsPMs forget 90% of meeting context within a week. How to record, transcribe, embed, and query meetings into a searchable knowledge base that compounds.10 min readApr 26
  55. 55The PM Automation Stack: OpenClaw vs Claude vs Everything ElseOpenClaw went viral. Claude Code went deep. n8n went wide. What each tool actually automates for PMs, what's vaporware, and the exact setup that works today.12 min readMar 26
  56. 56How a 2-Hour Prototype Killed a 3-Month ProjectFive customer calls and a two-hour prototype showed our feature design was structurally wrong. How prototype validation saved 600 engineering hours.8 min readMar 26
  57. 57From Zero to Weekly Discovery in 30 DaysWe went from 'we talk to customers quarterly' to 'every PM runs weekly discovery calls.' It wasn't a mandate - it was a system. Here's the 30-day playbook.7 min readMar 26
  58. 58What Happened When We Killed Our Most-Requested Feature200+ customer requests. Sales demanding it. The CEO mentioned it in an all-hands. We killed it anyway - and activation improved 15%. Here's why.8 min readMar 26
  59. 59The PRD Is Dead. Here's What Replaces It.Product Requirements Documents were a necessary evil in a world where building was expensive. That world is gone.3 min readMar 26
  60. 6020 AI Prompts That Replace 20 Hours of PM WorkCopy-paste AI prompts for product managers into Claude or ChatGPT. Tested across discovery, roadmapping, retros, and stakeholder updates. Save 20 hours a week.22 min readMar 26
  61. 61Prompt Logs Are the New Switch InterviewStop scheduling discovery calls to learn what customers want. They are already telling your AI in plain language. Mine the prompt logs instead.7 min readMar 26
  62. 62The AI-Powered Weekly Review: A System for PMs Who ShipA step-by-step weekly review system that uses AI agents to gather data, surface insights, and prepare your week - in 30 minutes instead of 3 hours.11 min readMar 26
  63. 63How to Build a Working Prototype in 60 Minutes (Step-by-Step)A concrete walkthrough of building a real prototype with AI - from problem statement to deployed, testable app. With the exact prompts and workflow.13 min readFeb 26
  64. 64Jobs to Be Done Has a Half-Life Now (And AI Is Shrinking It)JTBD assumes the underlying job is stable. AI breaks that assumption. Why the job your customer hired your product for is decaying faster than your roadmap.7 min readFeb 26
  65. 65The One-Pager That Replaced Our PRDs (Template Included)The exact one-page template we use instead of PRDs. Covers problem, evidence, solution, metrics, and risks - nothing else.12 min readFeb 26
  66. 66Run a 15-Minute Sprint Retro That Actually Improves ThingsAn AI-assisted retro format that gathers data before the meeting, identifies real patterns, and generates action items that stick.16 min readFeb 26
  67. 67Is Mob Programming the Right Approach for Your Team?Mob programming promises collaboration and quality, but at what cost? A look at why fully empowered Scrum teams are almost always the better bet.4 min readNov 24
  68. 68How to Avoid Survivorship Bias in Product ManagementThe British bomber study teaches us that the most critical data is often what we can't see. Here's how survivorship bias shows up in PM and how to fix it.7 min readSep 24
  69. 69You're Only Listening to the SurvivorsSurvivorship bias is quietly wrecking your product decisions. You're building for the users who stayed and ignoring the ones who left. Here's how to fix that.6 min readSep 24
  70. 70Why Users Don't Know What They Want Until You Show ThemFeature requests are reactive. Visionary product development means anticipating needs users can't articulate yet - and showing them what's possible.5 min readSep 24
  71. 71Show, Don't Tell: Why Users Can't Describe What They NeedFeature requests tell you what's broken. Prototypes tell you what's possible. I stopped treating user feedback as a roadmap and started using it as input.5 min readSep 24
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