Product for Product Management

After a full series exploring what product managers should retain, and rethink, in the age of AI, Matt and Moshe sit down for an honest wrap-up. What did we learn, what changed our minds, and where do humans still matter most?In this special episode, we look back at the conversations on human judgment, empathy, vision, strategy, and stakeholder alignment, then connect them to our own day-to-day experiments with AI. Moshe shares what he learned while building and publishing his new mobile app, Mental Health Wallet, using tools like Kiro. Matt reflects on building an agentic orchestration product, and where AI has genuinely helped sharpen strategy and execution.The big takeaway?AI can dramatically accelerate product work, but speed, output, and confidence are not the same as understanding. The PM role is not disappearing. It is shifting toward stronger context-setting, better judgment, deeper customer understanding, and more intentional collaboration.Join Matt and Moshe as they reflect on:Rebecca Douglas’s conversation on human judgment and empathy, and why product managers still need to interpret ambiguity, understand users as people, validate AI outputs, and decide what not to buildJohn Fontenot’s perspective on vision and strategy, including why AI can be a powerful thinking partner but cannot fully own long-term direction, strategic tradeoffs, market context, or business accountabilityJoy Adamson’s insights on stakeholder alignment, and why trust, relationship-building, incentives, organizational dynamics, negotiation, and emotional intelligence remain deeply human workHow AI can support product work through research synthesis, organization, ideation, prototyping, requirements, competitive exploration, and strategic feedbackWhy AI-generated advice can sometimes feel like generic validation, and how better context and sharper prompts lead to more useful strategic feedbackWhy market context, competitive insight, and business goals still need to come from humansThe changing balance between AI and human involvement across different product activities:Human judgment and empathy remain deeply human-ledVision and strategy can be increasingly AI-assisted, but remain dependent on human contextStakeholder alignment is heavily human, because trust, incentives, relationships, and politics cannot be fully automatedWhy user interviews and real customer conversations remain more valuable than AI-generated “users” or synthetic feedbackHow the importance of human involvement may shift by company stage, team size, and the number of stakeholders involvedThe potential future of product work, including AI agents, agent marketplaces, new workflows, and changing expectations for PMsAnd much more!You can connect with us and find more episodes:Product for Product Podcast: http://linkedin.com/company/product-for-product-podcast Matt Green: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgreenproduct/Moshe Mikanovsky: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikanovsky Note: Any views mentioned in the podcast are the sole views of our hosts and guests, and do not not represent the products mentioned in any way.Please leave us a review and feedback ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

When AI can summarize meetings, draft updates, and even recommend priorities, what remains uniquely human about stakeholder alignment? In this episode, product coach and advisor Joy Adamson joins Matt and Moshe to explore why alignment is still one of the most essential, and most human, parts of a product manager’s work.As part of our First Principles for PMs in the Age of AI series, Joy shares why stakeholder alignment is much more than keeping people informed or collecting feature requests. It is the ongoing work of connecting organizational needs with real customer and user needs, creating shared understanding of priorities, navigating competing incentives, and building enough trust to make difficult tradeoffs together.Join Matt and Moshe as they explore with Joy:What stakeholder alignment really means, and why true alignment reduces the need for constant stakeholder managementWhy the word “stakeholder” itself can create friction when people assume their request should automatically become a roadmap itemHow PMs can set healthy boundaries, say no with clarity, and prevent feature requests from becoming unchallenged commitmentsWhy emotional intelligence, negotiation, trust, and informal relationship-building remain critical product skillsThe difference between simply considering stakeholder input and actually aligning on priorities, tradeoffs, and resource allocationHow hidden motivations, incentives, politics, and organizational culture shape product decisions in ways AI cannot fully understandWhere AI can help: meeting summaries, follow-ups, tailored stakeholder communications, preparation, and negotiation supportWhy AI-generated recommendations still need human oversight, accountability, and judgment, especially when trust, risk, or ambiguity are involvedCould AI agents eventually become stakeholders themselves? What that might mean for product teams and decision-makingWhy junior PMs should deliberately build their human relationship and influence skills as AI takes on more operational tasksAnd much more!Want to connect with Joy?Website: https://www.digitaljoy.nl/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamsonj/You can also connect with us and find more episodes:Product for Product Podcast: http://linkedin.com/company/product-for-product-podcastMatt Green: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgreenproduct/Moshe Mikanovsky: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikanovskyNote: Any views mentioned in the podcast are the sole views of our hosts and guests, and do not represent the products mentioned in any way.Please leave us a review and feedback ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We’re back with a familiar voice on the podcast: John Fontenot returns to continue our *First Principles for PMs in the Age of AI* series, this time focused on Vision and Strategy. In a conversation that blends product thinking, personal reflection, and a healthy dose of AI skepticism, John helps us explore what it really means for PMs to define where they’re going, and how to get there.John defines vision as the desired end state or future outcome, and strategy as the path, phases, and tradeoffs required to reach it. With examples ranging from long-term business goals to the realities of regulated industries, he explains why product managers still need to lead on vision and strategy even when leadership doesn’t provide a clear direction, and why AI can support this work, but not fully own it.Join Matt and Moshe as they explore with John:What vision and strategy actually mean in product management, and why they’re easy to confuse  - How to connect a big vision to practical milestones, obstacles, and key results  Why AI can help with analysis and brainstorming, but can’t replace human creativity, empathy, or rule-breaking thinking  - The limits of AI in regulated spaces like finance and healthcare, where context and compliance matter  Why PMs often have to create strategy when the organization doesn’t hand it to them  - How to use AI as a thinking partner without outsourcing your strategic judgment  The balance between staying anchored in the long-term vision and adjusting to the realities of the market, user needs, and constraints  John’s perspective on where product teams should be careful not to let AI flatten nuance or over-automate strategy  And much moreWant to connect with John?LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnrfontenot/  You can also connect with us and find more episodes:Product for Product Podcast: http://linkedin.com/company/product-for-product-podcastMatt Green: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgreenproduct/  Moshe Mikanovsky: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikanovskyNote: Any views mentioned in the podcast are the sole views of our hosts and guests, and do not represent the products mentioned in any way.Please leave us a review and feedback ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We’re continuing our new series on "First Principles for PMs in the Age of AI" with a conversation about two things AI can support, but not replace: human judgment and empathy. In this episode, Rebecca Douglas joins Matt and Moshe to unpack why these skills matter even more as product teams lean harder on AI tools.With 14+ years in product and a career that started in customer service and client relationships, Rebecca brings a grounded view of what product managers actually do when the stakes are real: prioritize tradeoffs, interpret messy context, build trust with stakeholders, and make decisions that AI can help inform but not own. Together, they explore where AI saves time, where it creates new risks, and why PMs still need to slow down, validate, and think deeply before shipping.Join Matt and Moshe as they explore with Rebecca:What human judgment really means in product work, and why it matters most in prioritization, tradeoffs, and strategic decisions   What empathy looks like in practice for PMs, especially when serving both users and non-users like legal, operations, and compliance teamsWhy AI can help with synthesis, documentation, and repetitive work, but still needs human oversight and validationHow regulated environments raise the bar for judgment, trust, and accuracyThe risk of “empathy debt” when teams move too fast with AI and skip genuine user understandingHow Rebecca uses AI in her own work to save time on research, competitive intelligence, and requirements, while keeping decision-making humanWhy product managers shouldn’t let AI become the answer to every problem just because it’s availableHow to balance AI fluency with restraint, especially when accuracy thresholds matterWhy Rebecca’s poll choice of Human judgment and Empathy resonated so strongly with product leaders  And much more!Want to connect with Rebecca?LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccardouglasWorkforce Intelligence Labs: https://www.workintellabs.com/  You can also connect with us and find more episodes:Product for Product Podcast: http://linkedin.com/company/product-for-product-podcastMatt Green: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgreenproductMoshe Mikanovsky: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikanovskyNote: Any views mentioned in the podcast are the sole views of our hosts and guests, and do not represent the products mentioned in any way.Please leave us a review and feedback ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We’re kicking off a new series with a very timely question: what does product management look like in the age of AI? In this first episode, Matt and Moshe set the stage for *First Principles and Beyond for Product Managers in the Age of AI*, exploring how PM work is changing, what should stay human, and where AI can genuinely help. The conversation ranges from Matt’s work implementing software for government agencies to Moshe’s hands-on experiments with AI coding tools like Cursor, Kirk, and Claude Code. Along the way, they dig into the tension between speed and judgment, debate what “product sense” really means, and start shaping the core theme of the series: identifying the first principles of product management before layering AI on top. Join Matt and Moshe as they explore: - How product management is evolving as AI becomes part of the workflow - Why human-centered value delivery still matters, even when tools can generate work faster - What “product sense” means in practice, and whether it can be defined as a set of first principles   - Experiments with AI coding tools, local development, and the possibilities of building faster with more leverage - The idea of using AI to augment product work without removing human judgment from the loop - Bring it to the audience by polling where PMs should remain involved, and where AI can take more of the load - And much more! Want to share your thoughts on the series or follow along?-  - Product for Product Podcast: http://linkedin.com/company/pr... - Matt Green: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ma... - Moshe Mikanovsky: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mik... Note: Any views mentioned in the podcast are the sole views of our hosts and guests, and do not represent the products mentioned in any way. Please leave us a review and feedback ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️