Leveling-Up as a Product Manager in the Age of AI -- Part Two of Two

Part One of the blog (here) discussed key points pertaining to excelling as AI-centric product management.

These points include:

• Attain proficiency in AI, ML, and data science fundamentals

• Integrate generative AI tools into daily workflows

• Strengthen technical skills

• Grasp the AI/ML ecosystem

• Apply AI in problem-solving and critical thinking

• Clearly convey AI concepts

• Cultivate a test and learn mindset

• Enhance user and market research proficiencies

• Prioritize ethics and responsible AI integration

• Combine AI knowledge with product management best practices

• Envision a comprehensive customer lifecycle beyond features, and

• Develop a compelling AI vision

An AI-centric or AI-cognizant product managers play a pivotal role in bridging business objectives to deliver customer value and technical AI capabilities in products. Their primary responsibilities encompass strategizing the integration of AI into products for maximal value, collaboratively defining AI product requirements with technical teams, overseeing the complete lifecycle of AI feature development, evaluating and enhancing AI model performance, crafting business cases and adoption plans, and educating stakeholders. AI product managers adeptly navigate the technical intricacies of AI alongside the strategic considerations of product management, rendering them indispensable in creating AI-driven solutions that genuinely address customer needs. Ultimately, their proficiency enables organizations to convert the potential of AI into tangible business outcomes.

The core responsibilities of AI product managers going forward will encompass:

• Strategizing AI integration for optimized product value

• Collaboratively defining AI product requirements with technical teams

• Managing the entire lifecycle of AI features and products

• Assessing AI model performance and identifying avenues for improvement

• Constructing business / use cases, forecasts, and ethical adoption plans for AI, and

• Educating customers and internal teams about AI possibilities

Elevating your product management skills and approach to AI at this juncture will expand your career horizons as an AI product manager. This involves acquiring AI fluency, augmenting technical proficiencies, honing research and communication abilities, embracing an ethical and responsible mindset, and seamlessly integrating AI with established product management best practices. By doing so, you'll be positioned to drive innovative AI solutions that effectively tackle genuine business challenges and customer requirements across the complete product lifecycle. The outcome is a broadened scope of career opportunities.

I hope that this guidance will prove valuable on your professional path and that startup ELT and dev teams come to appreciate the enlarged skills and intricate responsibilities of the today’s product manager.

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