SquishyQuokka

AI Will Replace 50% of Product Managers soon, and that's a good thing...

It's time we face an uncomfortable truth: AI is coming for our jobs, and it's coming fast. But it might be the best thing that has happened to ProdMan. Here's why:

AI will eliminate mediocrity because significant portion of PMs are just glorified project managers or feature pushers. AI will easily replace these roles.
True product thinking will finally be more valued. Those who can strategize, innovate, and truly understand user needs will become indispensable. The era of the "fake it till you make it" PM is over. I am seeing this across my org now.
This will finally help us focus on outcomes, not outputs. AI can churn out roadmaps and PRDs faster than any human. This will push PMs to concentrate on the "why" rather than the "what".
Finally, WLB will be better for all of us. With AI doing the heavy work, the remaining PMs can focus on high-value activities, potentially reducing burnout.
This will lead to democratization of product skills. Basic PM tasks will become automated and more people across organizations will develop product thinking. So you need less PMs as is.

Now, I know this is a hard pill to swallow. Many of you will probably say that the human element in ProdMan can't be replaced. But ask yourself... In a world where AI can analyze user data, predict trends, and even generate creative solutions, what truly sets you apart?

Those who adapt with AI will thrive. Those who don't... well, there's always project management. 🤡 What do you think?

2mo ago

26Kviews

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TwirlyPenguin

Stealth2mo

Being a manager after a certain level almost always ends up meaning one thing - being responsible for revenue. Even EMs measure their impact by the revenue generated from successful projects, the projects that don’t fly don’t make it to the CV.

While most management jobs have industry specific skills associated to them (which can be turned efficient using AI thus needing less effort ≈ less people required) - the responsibility/accountability/initiative to make revenue stays the same.

All in all, junior managers (Interns, APMs, entry level PMs) will find it harder to break into. This is because of lesser amount of net IC PMs needed - that said, above this level the jobs are just as (un)safe as they always were w or w/o AI.

GroovyBoba

X (formerly Twitter)2mo

This. People ignore the responsibility/accountability part. Management is responsible for showing value/revenue,, you can optimise it sure but can't replace it..yet.

TwirlyPenguin

Stealth2mo

Imagine making an AI agent which stores contexts of atleast 5 years and has vectors embedded for all of the company’s dbs & other data. This would be ~60% of what the model would have to do. At this point I imagine the model should easily be turning pseudocode to js ie 90%+ engg work done.

Its such an exciting chain of thought to follow 😅

FluffyCupcake

Amazon2mo

10,000th post to see PMs going useless. Every company is hiring PMs right now including Google and Amazon.

“AI can analyse user data, predict trends…” —— Aaa, even before AI became a catchy name, such things existed in markets. Look for Data Products operating at scale.

I don't why there's such a poor perception of Project Management here. PjMs play a critical role in syncing various deliveries (insane human dependent), helping resource managers in better planning and generating crisp info which can be understood by all. I told this multiple times, capitalism is an efficiency-based system, it would have eradicated PJMs if they were clowns.

AI adoption will happen but not at the cost of human rationalities & negotiation skills.

FloatingWaffle

Flipkart2mo

Project management is actually a more respectable job than product management. They atleast have real work to do. PMs are primarily frauds. Maybe 10% of the existing PMs matter, who have first hand experience building Tech and business. The cute APM kids out of college and their subsequent life is simply parasitic. They will get kicked out.

Only PMs that have practical experience building in real tech or business will survive

JumpyHamster

Stealth2mo

How many is the right question

FuzzyNugget

Stealth2mo

It won’t. The definition and scope of work will change, yes. Been seeing these doomsday prophecies for decades now, and it’s comical.

If one thinks they can be replaced by AI (be it a dev, PM, copywriter, or anyone), then they are already not good at what they do and should reevaluate their careers.