Shift your focus from moving information between teams to actively building products and solutions, as the “information mover” role is becoming obsolete. This hands-on approach will increase your impact and job satisfaction.
2. Prioritize Reinvention and Modern Skills
Actively embrace continuous learning and skill reinvention to stay current with rapidly changing product development methods and AI tools. Overcome the psychological block against change, as your relevance depends on it.
3. Cultivate Strong Judgment Skills
Develop your ability to evaluate product changes, prioritize initiatives, and make sound decisions about what to build and release. With AI accelerating development, human judgment on quality and strategic fit becomes paramount.
Seek out opportunities to experiment with and apply AI tools to your work, starting with personal projects or automating less enjoyable tasks. Experiencing the “joy” of building with AI is a powerful antidote to burnout and fuels further engagement.
5. Swallow Your Ego, Seek New Roles
Be willing to consider roles that may not align with your past titles or perceived status, focusing instead on opportunities that allow you to stay current and build new skills. Your modern capabilities now matter more than your resume’s fancy logos.
6. Adopt a Long-Term Career Strategy
Focus on your “skip opportunity” – the job after the next – to guide your current decisions, ensuring you gain the skills needed for future high-value roles. This long-term perspective helps navigate the current chaos.
7. Automate Your PM Workflow with AI
Use AI and agent-based tools to automate repetitive or less joyful aspects of your product management role, such as status reports, product reviews, or internal team matching. This frees up time for higher-leverage, judgment-driven work.
8. Embrace the “Obsolescence Mindset”
Actively look for ways to “obsolete yourself” from your current tasks by leveraging AI, viewing it as an opportunity to move to more impactful and strategic work. This engineering mindset is crucial for continuous growth.
9. Recognize Chaos is Temporary
Understand that the current period of rapid change and exhaustion in product management is a temporary phase, likely lasting a couple of years, before new routines and optimizations emerge. This perspective can help sustain motivation through the transition.
10. Leverage Experience and Wisdom
If you are an experienced leader, emphasize your wisdom and expertise combined with a hands-on approach to building. Companies still need “adults” who can provide sound judgment and guidance during rapid change.