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The Product Manager Role Isn’t Going Anywhere
Predictions that PM disappears—or merges into a single PM/UX/eng role—confuse purpose with tools. AI is a tool; the enduring job is finding the intersection of customer value and business value. Hype and some capabilities are moving fast; applying them at scale to accelerate teams is lagging. Leaders should use AI to raise the rate of learning so PMs find that intersection faster—not rewrite the role.
Sorry to break it to you, but the role of product manager isn't changing any time soon.
I've read a lot of opinions on this point and I still don't buy it. I've heard everything from we won't have the role in the future to it will be a composite role of product management, UX, and engineering all in one. I'm skeptical of both of those perspectives becoming reality at any scale any time soon.
Here's what I think is happening - people are confusing the purpose of product management with the tools you use to accomplish that purpose. AI is a tool. The purpose of product management is enduring - find the intersection between customer value and business value. I don't see a future permutation where that shifts. The tools are constantly changing. But guess what? I've led product at various levels for nearly 30 years. This isn't the first time I've seen the tool set shift. The speed of change is both really fast and really slow at present.
The hyperbole and perspective is evolving fast. This is indicative of high experimentation and honestly a lot of failed experiments (aka learning). Some of the tools are evolving fast which is really cool to see. That can also slow down adoption when things change constantly. Applying those tools at scale to help accelerate product teams is lagging behind both the rate of hype and the rate of actual capability.
So what should you do? The most fundamental behavior that needs to be accelerated on product teams is to increase the speed of learning so that product managers can more rapidly find the intersection between customer value and business value. This was true before AI and continues to be true with AI. If you're leading a product team today, put your focus on how to leverage the tools available to you (e.g. AI) to maximize the rate of learning.