Transcript
0:00 [Music] Yes, product leadership is in trouble medium to longterm. There's just going to be fewer people, so lesser overhead, lesser management stuff, lesser reporting up and down, you know, stuff like that. So yeah, it's in trouble and it's more and more going to be about creating clarity.
0:30 It's more and more going to be about that true insight. It's more and more going to be about fostering creativity. So yes, they will continue to shrink and role expectations will continue to broaden to more of that kind of product generalist. A long time ago, this is before even I think chat GPT, I had said that there's going to be only one role which is PM. But PM as in product maker, not product manager. And so an engineer will be a PM, a designer will be a PM, a PM will be a PM. You had 20 person teams right now. There's probably like a team of three PMs. They might have some in-depth specialization, but they're able to do many different things thanks to AI. So now if a 20 person team shrinks to three people, there's going to be less management overhead. There's going to be less coordination overhead.
1:22 and think about what these other 17 people are going to do because over time every organization will be more efficient like this. So yeah, this idea of pure management can be trouble. Pure people management, pure coordination, pure reporting, pure navigating the org, I think is a trouble place to be. I could be wrong. People are continuing to underestimate just how quickly things are changing and will continue to change.
1:57 [Music]
Summary
- Product teams are expected to shrink, leading to reduced management and coordination overhead.
- The role of product manager (PM) is evolving into a more generalist position, where individuals take on multiple responsibilities.
- AI advancements are enabling team members (engineers, designers, etc.) to perform PM functions, blurring traditional role boundaries.
- Organizations will prioritize efficiency, potentially leading to fewer specialized roles and more cross-functional collaboration.
- The emphasis will shift from pure management to fostering creativity and insight within product teams.
- Rapid changes in the industry may be underestimated, indicating a need for adaptability in product leadership.