I don't think it's only PM jobs that are heading in this direction where proof of building is more valuable than anything else. I see it elsewhere in other jobs, e.g. marketing, business analyst. Job titles don't mean anything now as the market seems to have combined previously separate roles into one. We are in the age of the builder now that we have consumer technology that lowers a huge bar for everyone to go from 0 to prototype. All of us, regardless of job titles and expertise, got to get our hands dirty by building with AI and showing proof of that in public.
Fantastic article. AI is not replacing strong PMs, but it is ruthlessly eliminating average ones. Product work sits squarely in the first impact zone, yet many professionals outside tech still seem completely unaware of how soon the same shift is coming for them.
Peter, this really resonated. During the growth PM era, I had to remove “technical” from my LinkedIn title. Now with AI everywhere, I’m wondering if I should add it back or just keep it generic like everyone else. Gladly, I’ve built different things with AI this year and use AI tools daily, but your point about proof of work over credentials hit home, the gap between taking courses and actually shipping is so huge!
Peter, amazing article! You mentioned it in #8, but I think PMs will have to wear more hats. PMs will have to build things on top of just managing products and teams, I feel like it’s inevitable, at least in my mind.
I was literally thinking about this all day as a former FAANG PM Manager. I cut my teeth building Excel prototypes as an Analyst, which later got me closer to Tech and PM roles. My scrappy beginnings as an Analyst was always a core part of my story, part of my own identity as an IC PM, and something I missed as I grew to manage a team. Time to embrace my origins and get back to building. Thanks for this.
Great insights and recommendations. I feel the future of work is going in this direction. Not only in product, but it's a sense of AI becoming a tool to separate “wheat” from “chaff”.
Rather, this concept of eliminating busy work vs impactful work. It feels like it requires humans to get really clear on the impact of the work that we're doing and ruthlessly deprioritize the things that don't move the needle.
My concern is that some of the softer skillsets might be taken for granted in this vibe coding, build, and show your portfolio era that we're in.
I'm curious how to continue to showcase and improve soft skills that truly glue everything together.
I am certainly building, and I've created a portfolio that I'll share here. Interested in others' insights and to see what they are creating as well: https://jclarkes.com/#/portfolio
Peter, I feel like you spoke directly to me. Thank you for this, its given me clarity on a lot of things occupying my mental space lately. I especially liked that you touched upon the point about being a parent and being realistic with your time.
I’m starting to believe that creators have better PM skills than corporate PMs do.
Creators who leverage AI focus on building to ship. Corporate PMs, as you called it out, spend time in meetings, writing, reviewing, and waiting for their ideas to be prioritized.
The PM who can ship scrappy AI prototypes every week is now more marketable than the director who hasn’t touched the product in years. If using AI leverage can beat entire layers of management, it makes sense that companies will optimize for talent density and delay hiring mpre PMs.
I'm not a Product Manager but as a Product Specialist I work a ton with PM, Eng, PGM etc. And what stood out most to me about this post is that you can replace the title "Product Manager" with Product Specialist, and the post still resonates. Meaning, many roles and functions are going through the same transition, whereby the foundational skills that AI requires are essentially what all white collar workers need to be investing in these days. Systems-thinking, acting like an owner, iterating constantly, etc.
Yes, roles and responsibilities will get fuzzy as a result of all of this. And you need to have a good sense of self to be able to handle that. But if you can invest in those foundational skills, they should pay off.
I agree that fast and quality execution is right. That was the case before AI even. Lots of good writing on tempo and OODA loops from folks like Venkat Rao and others.
If anything, I'd predict that the way you get to faster execution is by removing a lot of the consensus-building, status-reporting, glue work that an LLM can often do better/faster.
So deep PM expertise on strategy and product architecture will be even more necessary. How you do it will be with speed/tempo feedback loops with customers. And you'll be able to because you won't spend 90% of your time in 1-1 status reports and alignment work (politics).
I don't think it's only PM jobs that are heading in this direction where proof of building is more valuable than anything else. I see it elsewhere in other jobs, e.g. marketing, business analyst. Job titles don't mean anything now as the market seems to have combined previously separate roles into one. We are in the age of the builder now that we have consumer technology that lowers a huge bar for everyone to go from 0 to prototype. All of us, regardless of job titles and expertise, got to get our hands dirty by building with AI and showing proof of that in public.
Agreed!
Fantastic article. AI is not replacing strong PMs, but it is ruthlessly eliminating average ones. Product work sits squarely in the first impact zone, yet many professionals outside tech still seem completely unaware of how soon the same shift is coming for them.
Peter, this really resonated. During the growth PM era, I had to remove “technical” from my LinkedIn title. Now with AI everywhere, I’m wondering if I should add it back or just keep it generic like everyone else. Gladly, I’ve built different things with AI this year and use AI tools daily, but your point about proof of work over credentials hit home, the gap between taking courses and actually shipping is so huge!
Peter, amazing article! You mentioned it in #8, but I think PMs will have to wear more hats. PMs will have to build things on top of just managing products and teams, I feel like it’s inevitable, at least in my mind.
Either we learn to wear more hats or get our hat taken away :)
Unfortunately that’s true!
A complete eye opener, really gave a direction on what a PM should do in this AI Era.
Thanks Peter, this was helpful.
I was literally thinking about this all day as a former FAANG PM Manager. I cut my teeth building Excel prototypes as an Analyst, which later got me closer to Tech and PM roles. My scrappy beginnings as an Analyst was always a core part of my story, part of my own identity as an IC PM, and something I missed as I grew to manage a team. Time to embrace my origins and get back to building. Thanks for this.
Great insights and recommendations. I feel the future of work is going in this direction. Not only in product, but it's a sense of AI becoming a tool to separate “wheat” from “chaff”.
Rather, this concept of eliminating busy work vs impactful work. It feels like it requires humans to get really clear on the impact of the work that we're doing and ruthlessly deprioritize the things that don't move the needle.
My concern is that some of the softer skillsets might be taken for granted in this vibe coding, build, and show your portfolio era that we're in.
I'm curious how to continue to showcase and improve soft skills that truly glue everything together.
I am certainly building, and I've created a portfolio that I'll share here. Interested in others' insights and to see what they are creating as well: https://jclarkes.com/#/portfolio
Peter, I feel like you spoke directly to me. Thank you for this, its given me clarity on a lot of things occupying my mental space lately. I especially liked that you touched upon the point about being a parent and being realistic with your time.
Awesome yeah, writing this gave me some clarity too :)
I’m starting to believe that creators have better PM skills than corporate PMs do.
Creators who leverage AI focus on building to ship. Corporate PMs, as you called it out, spend time in meetings, writing, reviewing, and waiting for their ideas to be prioritized.
The gap is massive.
The PM who can ship scrappy AI prototypes every week is now more marketable than the director who hasn’t touched the product in years. If using AI leverage can beat entire layers of management, it makes sense that companies will optimize for talent density and delay hiring mpre PMs.
I'm not a Product Manager but as a Product Specialist I work a ton with PM, Eng, PGM etc. And what stood out most to me about this post is that you can replace the title "Product Manager" with Product Specialist, and the post still resonates. Meaning, many roles and functions are going through the same transition, whereby the foundational skills that AI requires are essentially what all white collar workers need to be investing in these days. Systems-thinking, acting like an owner, iterating constantly, etc.
Yes, roles and responsibilities will get fuzzy as a result of all of this. And you need to have a good sense of self to be able to handle that. But if you can invest in those foundational skills, they should pay off.
What are you saying till now
the only competition is complexity
I agree that fast and quality execution is right. That was the case before AI even. Lots of good writing on tempo and OODA loops from folks like Venkat Rao and others.
If anything, I'd predict that the way you get to faster execution is by removing a lot of the consensus-building, status-reporting, glue work that an LLM can often do better/faster.
So deep PM expertise on strategy and product architecture will be even more necessary. How you do it will be with speed/tempo feedback loops with customers. And you'll be able to because you won't spend 90% of your time in 1-1 status reports and alignment work (politics).
Superb