FluffyCupcake
FluffyCupcake

Future of PM 🔦

Every other day, I keep seeing some random, unaware bhaiya/didi writing essays on Linkedin about “How PM is really DEaD!”. There's a frustrated LI didi who rarely worked in PM & has grand opinions about it.

I thought I can put forward some expert views to the forum so that it can reduce some anxiety for professionals. I’ll try to summarise opinions below -

  1. Andrew Ng from DeepLearning.ai says “PM will grow leaps & bounds as more n more software would be produced in the shortest possible time”

  2. Amjad Masad from Replit says “future will have 2 directions one where you should be close to bare metal (mission critical) or a generalist who can close the full product cycle”

  3. Karina Nguyen from OpenAI says “soft skills become more important when hard skills start diluting at certain levels”

IMHO, Nobody can predict the exact future. The best possible route is - keep looking for trends, keep upskilling with first principle approach.

Have a good week ahead!

3mo ago
Talking product sense with Ridhi
9 min AI interview5 questions
Round 1 by Grapevine
PrancingPotato
PrancingPotato

Prompting is gonna play a big role. Have worked on a GenAI project and regular/average AI/ML leads really struggle with right prompts and that’s where soft skills like communication or problem solving comes in. These aren’t always a core strength for technical leads so a PM can play a crucial role in bridging the gap.

DancingJellybean
DancingJellybean

I just don’t understand why people have issue with prompts, i mean like use AI to generate prompt and use that prompt to create your content

PrancingMochi
PrancingMochi

Prompting lol , whats special about it

ZippyJellybean
ZippyJellybean

Who is this frustrated LI didi

PrancingJellybean
PrancingJellybean

Sugandha?

PerkyMarshmallow
PerkyMarshmallow

Yeah i think so lol

JazzySushi
JazzySushi

Lol. Self condolence okay 😂😂 PMs are the easiest shot for layoff

FluffyCupcake
FluffyCupcake

Eh, thanks for ur valuable input, not sure but why u r part of PM community? Any FoMo?

Chal chal ab aage chal, dubara shakal na dikhana 😆

PrancingMuffin
PrancingMuffin

I can vouch for 2 and 3. Its valid across industries

JazzyWalrus
JazzyWalrus

PM role will either merge into engineering as it’s already happening where PMs are also project managers. Or PM could merge into Marketing roles. The distance between them would close. AI will play a role in this, and this seems more likely to happen.

FluffyCupcake
FluffyCupcake

Do you have any data to support or it’s an anecdote went to path of generalisation? I see LinkedIn is showing 10% growth in PM hirings in India.

IMHO, Only at places where the practice of feature copy, pasting is working will see a collapse of PM roles. That’s fair as well, some businesses need not to reinvent the wheel.

JazzyWalrus
JazzyWalrus

PM as we remember has evolved and we may not like it. Even if there’s 10% increase in hiring in India. Every single opening has 2000+ applicants.

The hiring manager would then select PM with “relevant experience”, Tier 1 MBA institute, or based on years of experience as PM.

As an AI PM, with no Tier 1 institute MBA background, my profile is much less preferred at a Healthcare or D2C or Logistics or Fintech company and would never get a call. General PM is plain dead. Specialist PM is what companies are looking for to deliver faster results.

Compare this with software engineering, if I know React, I can apply to any company regardless of domain.

PM is overcrowded and difficult to get into. Referrals are dead too. Applying through LinkedIn is dead too. And the job itself is 40hrs of hustle n grind. If you get fired, good luck finding a job immediately.

Take a step back n look at the complete picture of Future of PM Space n not just what some AI thought leader says.

JumpyPancake
JumpyPancake

I find it quite funny that some PM thinks that they can replace software engineers with AI but not get replaced by AI themselves. Surely an AI can generate better ideas than 90% of the PMs. The reality would likely be that every job profile evolves to handle different kind of responsibilities.
What makes you think that a software engineer cannot evolve themselves to take up the tasks that are done by PMs right now.

FluffyCupcake
FluffyCupcake

Where it’s mentioned AI will replace SE? Hallucination much?

JazzyCoconut
JazzyCoconut

Anyone who thinks PM roles will die due to AI doesn’t know how PMs actually add value (at least the good ones).

Managing the chaos around shipping good products + influencing without authority is the most vital ability.

This ability needs fantastic communication + ability to structure thoughts and processes + get buy-in from people who don’t report to you.

Just because AI enables engineers to write in verbose English and generate PRDs themselves, it makes them feel like the PM can be replaced.

The Product Manager is the only role in a product-based company where other functions listen to them even though they don’t report to them.

Good luck shipping great products when no PMs exist and everyone only cares what their boss says - resulting in clashing priorities between engg, design and marketing.

JazzyWalrus
JazzyWalrus

PM roles are dying not bcoz of AI but due to less hiring and more supply, at least in India. There’s lot of gatekeeping that happens while hiring. Ex. IIM grad hiring manger would be biased to hire from Tier-1 BSchools. Won’t take a chance with designer turned PM. Forget about a Nutritionist turning into PM. Good luck making that happen.

In case study terms, the market attractiveness of PM job market is absolute shit 🤷. This is the Red Sea you don’t want to go near. That’s why not much point in emphasising the value of PM.

GoofyTaco
GoofyTaco

You can find arguments on both sides. Confirmation bias plays a huge role here.

JazzyLlama
JazzyLlama

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

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