Product strategy in the age of AI

Where does strategy live? Where will it?

Part of the AI demo at Config 2024 (see the full playlist on YouTube)

I wrote my book to serve designers who want to level up to more strategic thinking and roles. The onset of design systems was writing on the wall for me; computers are much better at managing giant libraries than people, and once each design system reached a certain level of sophistication the bots could handle many decisions and tasks. Designers would need to think more strategically to show unique value. (AI demos are giving us very clear visuals of streamlined design processes now.)

But, after writing, sharing, and discussing my book more widely, I realized it’s product people who really want to manage strategy (and usually do). Product strategy requires a certain vocabulary, speed, output, and working style. Lots of docs and decks; fewer perfectly-polished design details. More hunches and hypotheses, more research and synthesis, less execution. You don’t usually get to zone out into your right brain and listen to music while you work 😢

It has me wondering where the direction-setting, feature-defining roles currently live in different companies, and where they might live in the future.

Will we still tend to have the big tech triangle of Product, Design, and Engineering as separate teams? Will the lines between roles and teams be more blurry, if they aren’t already? (Some of the designers I talk to say Product is very siloed at their org; at other places it’s very integrated.)

Have new AI tools shocked designers into seeing the need for strategic skills? Or are designers just going to do a lot more execution a lot more quickly? (Production design roles seem ripe for the chopping block, I feel for anyone trying to find an internship or an entry level job right now).

If you’re a product manager, director, or leader involved in strategy, or a designer interested in it, I’d love to hear your experience! I’m doing a bunch of 30-minute informational interviews to write more on this topic; I’ll share the synthesized insights at the end. Reply to this email or leave a comment on this post, and I’ll get in touch. Referrals to product people are also very welcome!

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Appendix: AI tools and resources

Trying to get up to speed on how AI might affect your workflow, team, or future?

Vitaly Friedman shared a couple excellent posts on LinkedIn aggregating a number of tools. Follow him (and the people linked) for more updates.

I’ve also added a bunch to my 4D Toolkit on Notion; look in the AI category for general guidelines and resources, and then the robot icon in other sections for AI-powered tools.