PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.
i might be a product manager #
every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to
tl;dr
AI means product people should focus more on discovery and go-to-market
AI opens the door for product people to become product builders
(A range of views this week on PRODUCTHEAD)
hello
One of the main debates that AI has triggered in the product management community is whether product managers should become product builders. My answer – much to the annoyance of many – is: it depends.
To me, this is a similar question to an older debate about how technical product managers should be. You can read my longer answer, but the summary is that you need to be sufficiently technical to have a sensible conversation with the developers working on your product, and to be able to call bulls**t occasionally.
Does that mean you need to be able to code? Probably not. But if you enjoy the challenge that comes with learning to code, then don’t let that stop you. Learn away. Just don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’re anything but a novice in comparison to the people who code for their day job. Knowing how to cut stuff with a scalpel doesn’t make you a surgeon.
Some product people have a natural affinity for making stuff, and they choose to learn and practice making stuff for fun and intellectual challenge, whether physically or digitally. Equally some don’t, and perhaps have more of an affinity with design, behavioural psychology, navigating org politics, or securing funding. Everyone’s a geek about something. When the organisational context and needs happen to align nicely with one’s strengths, any product person can thrive and be successful. Hence, it depends.
So to expand on my answer the original question, should product managers become product builders with AI, the question you should really be asking is whether you, the reader, should become a builder. To figure this out, try asking yourself the following two questions:
1. Are you sufficiently interested in learning how to build that you’ll be sufficiently motivated to progress through the early superficial success of learning how to make a thing, through the challenge and setbacks of learning how to make a good thing well? If that doesn’t interest you, that’s fine: despite the hype, not every organisation needs its product people to be hands-on makers.
2. If you were a maker would that be a net positive or a distraction from the core work of helping the organisation move closer to its goals by creating and sustaining quality products that are valuable both to users and the organisation? If so, then you’re really asking yourself whether you’d like to change careers. Again, also fine if you do.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with having eclectic interests and dabbling; just recognise it for what it is. It’s always tempting for naturally curious people to disappear down a rabbit hole of learning; it’s just not always the right call to do so. Likewise, many organisations will be tempted to collapse different disciplines into a single product person because it’s cheaper to pay one person than several. And that doesn’t make it a good idea either.
There is room within the product management profession for a degree of specialisation, not least because product management looks different in every organisation. However when you continue down the path of specialisation there comes a point at which what you’re doing on a daily basis isn’t really product management any more. If you’re happy with that progression, that’s great – enjoy it. This will probably leave a skill gap, so don’t be surprised when someone else comes in to take over the core product management responsibilities.
For you this week #
Rich Mironov writes that accelerated development with AI shifts the focus of product managers to the start and end: on discovery and understanding the nature of the problem; and on go-to-market, which is far more effective with the benefit of good discovery. (I’ve also written about this recently.)
In a talk for Product at Heart 2026, Teresa Torres shares an honest account of her personal journey from creating content about opportunity solution trees to creating software to help people learn and use them. She now describes herself as an AI engineer. I’ve also included her accompanying blog post which really details the challenges of her learning journey, and how much she’s enjoying her new skill set.
Speak to you soon,
Jock
what to think about this week
Barbell-Shaped Product Roles
I had yet another call last week with an AI engineer/cofounder who has built some very interesting software but gotten zero interest from his intended buyers. For 90 minutes, we ignored his beautiful tech, and dug into the product basics…
Target audience? Crisp problem statement? Compelling economic value message?
He had some hypotheses alongside a value story his intended users would find deeply insulting. He is trying to sell prospects on his concept of what they should need. I wish this were the exception.
AI pushes product work to the ends and engineering work to the middle
[Rich Mironov / Product Bytes]
I Can’t Predict the Future and Neither Can You
Today, my job looks radically different than it did a year ago. I’m going to tell you my story. I’m not telling you this story so that you do the same thing. I don’t want that to be the takeaway from the message. I’m going to tell you my story because I think it’s an amazing story of continuous improvement, of how teeny, tiny steps compound over time.
The hardest and most fun thing I’ve done in my career
[Teresa Torres / Product at Heart]
Behind the Scenes: Building AI-Generated Opportunity Solution Trees
Today, I want to share an engineering story with you. There will be some technical bits. Some of it might feel foreign to you. But I want you to know I had no idea how to do any of this a year ago. I learned it with the help of AI. My goal in sharing my engineering stories is to show you what’s just now possible.
15 months from product person to AI engineer
[Teresa Torres / Product Talk]
recent posts
How to form a go-to-market strategy
A go-to-market strategy isn’t something you tack on as an afterthought to an upcoming product launch. Instead it’s about understanding where value exchanges occur, and figuring out how to make them more frequent, consistent and predictable.
Go-to-market emerges from your discovery
[I Manage Products]
We’re all addicted to AI, but it’s going to be okay
We seem to stuck in a contradiction in which we worry about AI’s effect on our critical thinking, while finding it equally hard to resist using. Why is that?
[I Manage Products]
Canary in the mine: AAA game developers are unionising
Product management has had its own fair share of problems over the last few years. Nevertheless, there are early warning signs from AAA game studios that there may be another storm brewing in tech for us to weather.
Union-busting just isn’t a good look
[I Manage Products]
can we help you?
Product People is a product management services company. We can help you through consultancy, training and coaching. Just contact us if you need our help!
Helping people build better products, more successfully, since 2012.
PRODUCTHEAD is a newsletter for product people of all varieties, and is lovingly crafted from a squishy floor mat.