Lean In, Learn, Build: How Did You Become a Better Product Manager This Week?

The age of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is no longer science fiction. It is here. For those of us in product management, alongside our partners in design and engineering, the very nature of our chosen profession is undergoing a fundamental shift.

I often find myself asking: Will the traditional Product Manager even exist 18 months from now? Or will we see the rise of the "Builder"? These are individuals defined by high agency, impeccable taste, and the intuition to lead a hybrid workforce of humans and AI agents to complete tasks at speeds we once thought impossible.

Having spent my career in the trenches of product, I am energized by mentoring the next generation of PMs. However, we must be honest: the era of the "static degree" is over.

The notion that a university education could sustain a 40-year career might have been true in the mid-20th century, but it hasn't been true for a long time. It certainly hasn't been true for me.

I look back at my own Computer Science education at WPI. I remember the AI courses taught by Professor Michael Gennert a lifetime ago. At the time, "state of the art" meant LISP programming, expert systems, and the first "AI Winter." When I compare those concepts to the AI we built at Yahoo Search, Wayfair e-commerce, and now at Warner Bros. Discovery, there is almost no technical resemblance. Yet, those classes sparked the curiosity that remains my greatest asset.

To stay relevant and lead a whiteboard discussion with a PhD who graduated last year, I have had to treat my education as a living document.

Whether it was my "summer of learning" where I picked up iOS programming, founding Barcbots (a Vex Robotics club), or my recent immersion into LLMs and Generative AI, I've had to constantly evolve. My computer science degree has been rewritten a dozen times through podcasts, Coursera, and executive education at UC Berkeley, even if I don't get a new diploma to hang on the wall.

This is a hard lesson to internalize, especially as I pay tuition for my four children. With three having attended UC Berkeley, U Michigan, and UW Madison, and my youngest graduating high school this year, the investment is significant. However, I remain confident that higher education is time well spent. It is a privilege they take seriously. They are learning how to learn, how to collaborate, and how to challenge the status quo. Their degrees may have a technical "shelf life" of only a few years, but their ability to remain curious is what will let them thrive in the age of AGI.

With that in mind, I am starting a new series for my cohort of product managers and aspiring builders.

How did you become a better PM this week?

Did you read? I highly recommend The Thinking Machine by Jensen Huang, or Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick.
Did you go deep? Did you find a customer insight through raw metrics rather than a summary report?
Did you build? Did you prototype a feature using Lovable, Replit, or Cursor instead of just writing a PRD?
Did you listen? I suggest Lenny's Podcast with OpenAI's Sherry Wu for a look at the new frontier.
Did you reflect? Read Matt Shumer's "Something Big is Happening" and ask yourself if you are ready.

It is easy to let your day be consumed by the "calendar tetris" of meetings and tasks. But if we want a seat at the table where the future of technology is defined, we must make time to grow. My tenets are simple: Embrace AI to seek new knowledge, immerse yourself with experts, and stay in the driver's seat.

As Alan Kay famously said, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."

I am leading by example. This coming week, I am challenging myself to publish a functional app or service using Lovable and OpenAI Codex.

What will you do to become a better PM by the end of the week?

This article reflects my personal perspectives on product management and AI. It does not represent the official position of my employer or any affiliated organization.