No, Generative AI cannot replace Product Managers but it can be leveraged by Product Managers to do their job effectively.
What is Generative AI?
Generative AI refers to a branch of artificial intelligence that focuses on creating models capable of generating new, original content. It involves using algorithms and machine learning techniques to enable computers to learn patterns and characteristics from a given dataset and generate new data that is similar.
Generative AI models can generate a wide range of outputs, including text, images, music, and even videos. Generative AI can also write code.
Generative AI has found applications in various fields, including art, content creation, gaming, and data augmentation for training machine learning models. It enables the generation of new and diverse content, pushing the boundaries of creativity and assisting humans in various creative endeavours.
It has found application in helping Customer Relationship Managers to keep up the pace with public information and data and respond to customers using AI tech.
It is good for Customer Support to be able to quickly fetch the relevant data.
Generative AI is a utility and Product Managers, and other leaders can leverage it to solve specific problems.
Let’s understand the Role of Product Managers in Software companies:
The role of the Product Manager is very strategic and critical for every Software Company.
The Role involves Identifying Customer Problems and needs based on the following activities:
- Consumer behaviour analysis
- User Research
- Market Research
- Competition Analysis & Competition Strategies
- Environmental Analysis
- Conduct Product Discovery
- Identify the Target Customer and create Personas
- Define Customer Value Proposition
- Achieve Product/Market Fit
- Build Disruptive Products
- Innovation
- Work with Product Development
- Define Problem Statement
- Feature Definition
- Craft a long-term Product Strategy and Product Roadmap
- Go To Market strategies
- New Product Launch
- Manage Product Life Cycle through various stages
- Product Monetization Strategy and Pricing Decision
- Product Release planning
- Feature Prioritization
- Define MVP
- Product Portfolio Planning
- Work with UX Design
In all these activities, there is analysis required and Strategy is purely based on Human Intelligence. So, AI cannot replace Product Managers.
However, Product Managers that use AI in analytical activities like Market research, Competitor research are certainly more effective in their role.
Product Managers should be thinking of use cases to leverage AI in their products and create value for Customers.
Here is the Complete Product Management Universe:
Product Management Framework
- Product Management is very vast and requires strategic thinking, and human behaviour understanding skills, it requires UX Design thinking skills. It requires skills to understand human decision-making.
- Technical aspects are only 20 % of Product Management, rest 80% of it is Strategy, Analysis and UX Design.
“A successful Product Manager is a Business Strategist First and then Technologist next”
“A Successful Product Manager is a psychologist first and an Engineer next. “
Two Key skills to becoming an effective Product Manager are:
- Business Strategy Thinking
- Psychology – Capability to understand the human mind, consumer mind and the user’s decision-making process.
Both these skills are not with Generative AI. So, it cannot replace Product Managers.
Here are 10 key skills for Product Managers:
Which of the following are natural and which can be nurtured?
- Problem-Solving Attitude– as humans, we are never comfortable in any problem situation and as a natural tendency we tend to have an approach to solving the problem and coming out of that situation. But to have it as an attitude is another level approach. Firstly, being alert and looking for problems by empathizing with the customer and secondly looking for an innovative solution again with empathy. This has to be nurtured.
- Passion for technology– Tech has changed the landscape of product management. An innovative use of tech can bring delight to customers. Eg. Amazon uses the internet to sell books Or PayTM using a QR code. For this generation of Product Managers, tech and it’s changes have to be pursued and updated almost on a daily basis. Hence nurture it.
- Deep User understanding –Study/ read/ watch about newer research on Consumer Behaviour. Hence nurture.
- An eye for design –Empathizing with the customer and creating a well-designed product. Applying an emotional, logical, and behavioural approach to product design. This is an application area of product design. Learn the concepts and apply them. Hence nurture.
- Business Sense– We come across many businesses – many click, many fail. A business sense can be developed with experience. Hence nurture.
- Analytical skills– Of course nurture.
- Leadership qualities– This is a strong personality trait. Kapil Dev was a captain in our 1983 world cup win. He was only 24. Sunil Gavaskar was 34 at that time and was much more experienced as a captain than Kapil. MS Dhoni – a strong leader with demonstration as a predominant trait. Other traits of these two leaders – are vision, pointed focus on winning, high optimism, courageous, fearlessness, and never giving up. This is Nature.
- Teamwork– Another personality trait. Again most leaders have this trait. Nature.
- Ability to take feedback– Another personality trait. One has to be open to criticism and failure. If a PM is headstrong and does not take feedback – it might bring his downfall.
- Prioritization capabilities– Decision-making skills come into play here. It is a managerial skill which has to be nurtured with experience.
It is not possible for Generative AI to have all these skills. However, Generative AI can be a good utility for Product Managers to do their job effectively.
So, AI or Generative AI cannot replace Product Managers, However, Product Managers that leverage AI or Gen AI certainly have a competitive advantage over their peers.