Product Management Is Dead, So What Are We Doing Instead? | Lenny & Friends Summit 2024

The Death of Product Management and the Rise of AI

• Product management is considered dead or will be soon, and a new approach is needed to replace it (30s).
• AI is expected to transform the role of product design and engineering faster than anticipated, with significant changes occurring over the last 18 to 24 months (49s).
• The rate of technological change is very fast, and product teams must be prepared to adapt and not be surprised by these changes (1m19s).
• When building product strategy, the focus should be on what customers will need in three, five, and 10 years, rather than just building a great product for today (1m28s).
• Building product teams should also involve imagining how the team will operate in the future, such as 18 months, three years, five years, and 10 years from now, and making bets on what changes will occur (1m43s).

The Transformation of Product Strategy

• The traditional approach to product strategy involves talking to customers, the team, sales, and engineering, taking notes, and then creating a document outlining the strategy, but this approach can be flawed and lead to feedback and revisions (2m25s).
• A personal anecdote is shared about a past experience as a CPO, where the traditional approach to product strategy was used, but ultimately led to a lengthy and iterative process with many revisions (2m0s).
• The way product management operates has changed significantly, as demonstrated by the shift from spending weeks creating a 10-page product strategy document to generating a similar document in minutes using AI tools like ChatGPT (3m49s).
• This change is a metaphor for how product management is evolving, with tasks that previously took days or weeks now being completed in a fraction of the time (4m24s).
• Before, product managers would spend time writing and revising long product strategies, but now they can use AI to scaffold out something that's 80% good and then sharpen and ship it in a shorter amount of time (4m29s).

The Automation of Product Tasks

• Wireframing has also changed, with product managers now able to share fully functional prototypes with teams and customers in minutes, rather than drawing wireframes on paper or using tools like Balsamiq (4m46s).
• Customer feedback can now be automated with no-code tools, rather than manually pouring through spreadsheets (5m6s).
• Slides are also being generated by AI, reducing the time spent on creating presentations (5m21s).
• The evolution of product management means that product work now takes less time, thought, and potentially fewer product managers (5m28s).

Becoming an AI-Powered Product Team

• To adapt to this change, product managers need to become AI-powered product teams, automating themselves to speed up delivery, adding new skills, and multiplying their impact by teaching the team (6m2s).
• The first step in becoming an AI-powered product team is to automate tasks to speed up delivery, with the goal of automating away tasks that product managers currently do (6m23s).
• A to-do list of tasks that can be automated includes drafting documents, getting and giving feedback, and writing updates (6m47s).
• Product leaders are often stuck with mundane tasks such as writing updates, summarizing meetings, prioritizing feature requests, monitoring goals and OKRs, and keeping track of competitors, which can be automated to speed up delivery overall (7m13s).
• These tasks should be automated whenever possible, with the goal of getting to 75% completion faster rather than striving for 100% perfection (8m36s).
• By automating these tasks, product leaders can save days every week and use that time to add new skills and do more (8m41s).

Acquiring New Skills for the AI Age

• The role of product management is changing, and product leaders need to adapt by acquiring new skills, such as edge prototyping, design, and coding (8m52s).
• Cody, a non-traditional product manager, is an example of someone who has learned to add new skills, including design and coding, to become a more effective product leader (8m56s).
• Cody's ability to adapt and learn new skills allowed him to overcome obstacles and deliver results, demonstrating the importance of having a breadth of skills on a product team (9m53s).

Multiplying Impact Through Team Empowerment

• To multiply impact, product leaders need to teach their teams how to automate themselves and acquire new skills, rather than relying on individual heroes (10m36s).
• A project is underway to build an AI-powered channel where team members can share ways they are automating themselves and ask for help building things (10m41s).
• To be an AI-powered product manager and have an AI-powered product team, one needs to normalize using AI tools to accelerate and build skills, and also fund it (10m56s).

The Vision of AI-Powered Product Work

• The goal is to create a world where product work takes less time, allowing for more time with users, takes less thought, enabling more creativity, and has fewer product managers (11m13s).
• AI is expected to collapse the talent stack, making separate jobs become one, which can be a scary and big change, but it doesn't have to break the team (11m42s).

From Handoff to Generalist-Specialist Model

• A product team typically consists of a product manager, engineer, and designer, but this structure can be a handoff mechanism, keeping team members hands-off with what actually gets built (12m55s).
• The new approach is a generalist-specialist model, where specialists in product, design, and engineering participate across the building process and do the work needed to move the project forward (13m21s).
• The operating principle "there are no lanes" encourages team members to get work done regardless of their role, embracing a culture of collaboration and flexibility (13m42s).

The Rise of the AI-Powered Triple Threat

• The future of product teams may involve an AI-powered Triple Threat, where one person can do engineering, design, and product as a lead of a team, including AI tools, agents, and platforms (14m27s).
• The role of product managers is evolving, and they will be expected to have a broader range of skills, including engineering, design, and commercial skills, as the traditional triad of product management, engineering, and design is becoming less relevant (14m43s).
• Small teams and individuals can move faster than big teams, and opinionated product leadership will be key to driving progress in this new environment (15m0s).
• Product managers will need to be more commercially oriented, think about marketing, and use tools for data analysis (15m29s).
• The new role of product managers will be a combination of different skills, and it's scary for some people, but it doesn't have to be if they prepare themselves and their teams for the change (15m44s).

The Impact of AI on Product Leadership

• AI will not replace humans but will help them do their jobs, and it's inspiring to think about what is possible to build and create with AI (16m19s).
• Product leaders will also be impacted by AI, and they need to be prepared for this change, which will require managing new types of teams and skills (16m37s).
• To manage the change, product leaders need to develop commercial skills, technical skills, and the ability to manage people who code, as well as budgeting for headcount versus agents and tools (17m10s).
• The team topology will need to be artisanally crafted to fit the specific needs of the project, and product leaders need to be flexible and adaptable to succeed in this new environment (17m45s).
• To build a successful team, it's essential to identify individuals with unique skills, such as product expertise, and create a team around them, requiring creative team design (18m6s).

Building a Future-Proof Skillset

• As AI technology advances, it's crucial to develop skills that are difficult to replace, such as strategic thinking and experience, to maintain a competitive edge (18m17s).
• A recent article in Lenny's newsletter discussed how close AI is to replacing product managers, highlighting the importance of developing skills that are hard to replicate (18m23s).
• To stay ahead, it's necessary to "skill up" and build a unique value proposition, potentially by running, building, and scaling AI-powered teams (18m44s).

The Rapid Integration of AI

• The integration of AI in various industries is happening rapidly, with some companies already adopting digital twins and AI-powered solutions (19m12s).
• To "reanimate" product management, it's essential to become an AI-powered product team, as AI will likely collapse the talent stack and change the way teams operate (19m34s).
• Product leaders must care for their culture and organization, plan accordingly, and be prepared for the changes that AI will bring (19m46s).
• The future of product management will likely involve AI-powered triple threats, and it's recommended to give them power and budget to drive success (19m59s).