How your product and team can survive in a GenAI world
Insights from Berit Hoffmann
GenAI is rapidly reshaping the product management landscape, presenting exciting opportunities and new challenges. For product leaders, the shift is not without its pains. How do you navigate a world where the cost of building software is plummeting, traditional pricing models are being disrupted, and user experiences are becoming increasingly AI-driven? In this issue of The Confident Product Leader, we visit insights from Berit Hoffmann, a seasoned product leader with experience spanning startups and large enterprises, including five years at Google. Berit has led teams through acquisitions, overseen product design and strategy, and is now diving into entrepreneurship as CEO and Co-founder of Korl. Her perspective provides a grounded look at how GenAI impacts product strategy, user experience, and productivity.
How your product and team can survive in a GenAI world
GenAI's impact on product strategy cannot be understated. Berit encourages us to think forward and consider potential end-game scenarios to inform today's strategic decisions. As a thought exercise, Berit asks, “Assume that the cost of building software effectively goes to zero—what does that imply about the type of segments I sell into or the business model?” Product leaders must grapple with market positioning and differentiation questions as GenAI levels the playing field regarding software creation.
She believes it means rethinking business models and how value is delivered, saying “There’s a lot of talk right now about seat-based pricing not being a super attractive model, at least in the way that it used to be, because you’re seeing GenAI actually reduce some of the headcount needs.” As AI changes how teams operate and what businesses need, product leaders must adapt their strategies to align with these macroeconomic shifts, ensuring their offerings remain relevant and valuable. She is in good company regarding recognising that different pricing structures are required in a GenAI landscape. Saleforce's newly launched Agentforce is not priced per seat but by conversation.
In my coaching calls with product leaders, I hear about a few different approaches to realising the potential of AI in product strategy. They can be grouped into the following.
1. Defending a value proposition under direct threat from GenAI.
2. Unlocking potential value that wasn't possible or practical before.
3. Driving operating efficiencies.
I explored these in depth in the training course, including confidence in GenAI for product strategy.
Non-deterministic ‘open world’ user experiences
For product leaders, GenAI is not just changing the strategy—it's also transforming the user experience in products. Berit noted that “we start to move away from very deterministic rule-based experiences and start to inject these little kind of micro-interactions and moments that start to become non-deterministic and much more generative.” This evolution presents both opportunities and challenges. Product teams can use GenAI to craft more engaging, personalised user experiences, but they must do so thoughtfully.
Berit cautioned against overusing AI-driven interactions: “The opportunity is not that the entire interface and experience becomes non-deterministic, and everything needs to be chat-based. I don’t believe in that. But I do believe there are these little kind of micro interactions and moments that start to become non-deterministic.”
The critical takeaway for product leaders is to seek opportunities to integrate AI in ways that add value without overwhelming users or losing sight of the core user experience.
How AI Will Improve Product Manager Performance
GenAI is also set to change the role of product managers themselves. One often raised question is whether GenAI will replace product managers or reduce the number needed. As Berit explained, “There’s a lot of talk about whether GenAI or AI in general starts to remove the need for product managers. Or at least, the kind of span of control of a product manager goes from... ten or fifteen engineers to maybe triple that.” While AI may automate specific tasks, Berit believes that critical aspects of product management will remain human-centric. Product management will continue to focus on decisions about what to build, but assisted by AI.
Berit noted, “You have to look at not just what AI is good at solving, but also where people are willing to use AI and give up some of that control. One place people are not going to want to give up very quickly is defining what to build.” This is where product managers must lean into their creativity and user empathy. AI can assist, but Berit does not believe organisations are ready for AI-only decisions to be made.
I have had this conversation with several leaders, and a common trend is the concern around differentiation. How LLMs work is not ideal for automating the decision-making on unique opportunities for a product to focus on. There is no argument that an AI-assisted product manager will replace a human-only product manager, but will companies want more profound, high-confidence decisions that may counteract any reduction in headcount? Only time will tell.
AI as a Productivity Tool
Berit highlighted the often mundane communication tasks that fill a product manager's day: “I feel like I spend my entire day sitting in status updates and slides regurgitating the same information for seventeen different audiences. That to me is an exciting opportunity, where we can bring AI in.” By automating repetitive tasks, GenAI can free up product managers to focus on more strategic and creative aspects of their work, enhancing both individual performance and overall team efficiency.
Takeaways
Rethink Business Models: As GenAI decreases the cost of building software, product leaders must reconsider traditional pricing strategies and adapt to evolving market dynamics.
Thoughtful AI Integration: Use GenAI to enhance user experiences through micro-interactions but avoid overwhelming users with fully AI-driven interfaces.
Human-Centric Decision Making: AI will assist in many aspects of product management, but key decisions around what to build and how to deliver value remain human-led.
Automate Mundane Tasks: Leverage AI to handle repetitive communication tasks, allowing product managers to invest more time in creative problem-solving and user engagement.
While GenAI might not immediately appear relevant or disruptive to your market, it is hard to ignore it. The speed of improvement is crazy fast. It is hard to imagine the capability just a few years ahead. The way humans communicate with computers and the potential of how we process unstructured information has changed forever. SaaS and systems designers are just beginning to work out what is possible. How are you engaging with GenAI in your product organisation?