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.
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!
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, 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.
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 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!
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!
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, 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!
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.
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 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