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The Steinberger Threshold
Most leaders are asking the wrong question about AI. They ask whether their teams are using it. They ask which model to standardize on. They ask whether agents are ready for production. They ask how quickly they can drive adoption. That is all downstream. The real question is simpler and… Read more ⇢
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AI is not killing the PM role. It is being forced to grow up.
Agile changed the choreography of delivery, but it did not fundamentally change the cast. We kept the same job titles, the same swim lanes, and mostly the same power dynamics. AI is different because it collapses the distance between intent and execution. Engineers can prototype in hours. Designers can ship… Read more ⇢
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Security is not “tech debt” or “engineering work.” It is product work.
If you have ever watched a product manager and an engineering lead debate whether a security improvement “counts” as roadmap progress, you have seen a symptom of a deeper problem. The argument is rarely about the work itself. It is about ownership, incentives, and an outdated mental model where “product”… Read more ⇢
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From Using AI to Running AI: The Next Skill Gap
The biggest mistake leaders are making right now is framing the next era as a contest between humans and AI. That is not what is happening inside high-performing teams. The real separation is already showing up somewhere else: between people who use AI and people who orchestrate it. AI users get output. AI orchestrators… Read more ⇢
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The Iron Triangle Is Back. AI Just Made It Sharper.
Every decade, the tech industry rediscovers a timeless truth and tries to dress it up as something new. Today’s version comes wrapped in synthetic intelligence and VC-grade optimism. But let’s be honest: AI did not kill the Iron Triangle. It fortified it. For years we have preached that product decisions always… Read more ⇢
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When Product Management Turns Into a Feature Factory
There is a point in every product organization where you can feel the shift. The roadmap gets longer. The backlog turns into a dumping ground for requests. The strategic narrative fades as the team becomes obsessed with throughput instead of outcomes. Somewhere along the way, product management stops being a… Read more ⇢
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Idea to Demo: The Modern Operating Model for Product Teams
Most product failures do not start with bad intent. They start with a very normal leadership sentence: “We have an idea.” Then the machine kicks in. Product writes a doc. Engineering estimates it. Design creates a few screens. Everyone nods in a meeting. Everyone leaves with a different movie playing… Read more ⇢
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Tunneling in Product Management: Why Teams Miss the Bigger Play
Tunneling is one of the quietest and most corrosive forces in product management. I was gifted Upstream by Dan Heath from a product leader, and of course it was full of amazing product insights. The section on tunneling really stood out to me and was the inspiration for the following article. Tunneling… Read more ⇢
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Aesthetic Force: The Hidden Gravity Warping Your Product and Your Organization
Every product and engineering organization wrestles with obvious problems. Technical debt. Conflicting priorities. Underpowered infrastructure. Inefficient processes. Those are solvable with time, attention, and a bit of management maturity. The harder problems are the invisible ones. The ones that warp decisions without anyone saying a word. The ones that produce… Read more ⇢









