Shape the Product — AI Disruption Profile
Summary
“Shape the Product” is the PM job of determining what to build — strategy, vision, goal-setting, creating specs, discovery, roadmapping, and design feedback. Of the three PM jobs (Shape/Ship/Sync), Shape is most disrupted by AI (🤖🤖🤖 overall). Counterintuitively, the most “strategic” sub-tasks (strategy & vision, goal-setting) rate highest for AI disruption (🤖🤖🤖🤖), while design feedback and roadmapping rate lowest (🤖🤖).
How to Apply
- Actively experiment with AI tools for Shape work — strategy, discovery, and spec writing should increasingly be AI-augmented
- Treat AI outputs as first drafts to refine, not final answers
- Invest AI tooling budget here — this is where the highest leverage is
Disruption ratings by sub-task
| Sub-task | AI Disruption |
|---|---|
| Strategy & vision | 🤖🤖🤖🤖 |
| Setting goals | 🤖🤖🤖🤖 |
| Creating specs | 🤖🤖🤖 |
| Discovery | 🤖🤖🤖 |
| Building roadmaps | 🤖🤖 |
| Design feedback | 🤖🤖 |
Sources
From: How AI Will Impact Product Management
Attribution: Lenny Rachitsky What this source adds: Original formulation of Shape as one of three PM jobs, with granular AI disruption ratings per sub-task. Links: Original | Archive
Related
- AI Disrupts Strategic PM Skills Most — The key insight from analyzing Shape’s disruption ratings
- Ship the Product — The execution counterpart (🤖🤖)
- Sync the People — The coordination counterpart (🤖)
- Interactive PRD Writing — A technique for one of Shape’s 🤖🤖🤖 sub-tasks (creating specs)