Make Product Management Fun Again with AI Agents
By: Tal Raviv Source: Lenny’s Newsletter Type: newsletter
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| **By Tal Raviv | Published April 29, 2025** |
Overview
Raviv’s guide addresses how AI agents can help product managers reclaim time from repetitive tasks and focus on strategic work. The article combines practical implementation steps with frameworks for planning AI agent workflows.
Key Concepts
What Makes an AI Agent: Raviv defines agentic behavior across a spectrum. Systems become more “agentic” when they act proactively, create plans, leverage company context, access live data, take real-world actions, and create feedback loops without human intervention.
The “AI Automations” Category: Tools like Zapier, Lindy AI, Relay App, and Gumloop represent the most practical agent category for PMs today. These differ from chat-based LLMs by actually executing tasks across integrated platforms.
Practical Implementation
The article provides step-by-step instructions for building a customer call prep agent using Zapier Agents that:
- Scans calendar for daily external meetings
- Researches external participants via web search
- Sends briefing summaries via Slack
Design Principles for Agent Planning
Raviv outlines five key considerations:
- Self-understanding: You must comprehend the task before delegating it
- Scope reduction: Start with the most painful aspect of a task
- Risk mitigation: Design workflows with low downside (e.g., draft emails rather than sending directly)
- Context provision: Supply decision-making frameworks and team information
- Raw data preservation: Avoid summaries that degrade PM intuition
Platform Selection Guidance
The article includes a meta-prompt designed to help PMs translate their needs into platform-specific implementation steps across multiple automation tools, addressing the steep learning curve these platforms present.
Strategic Value
Rather than replacing PM judgment, AI agents handle judgment-light but necessary tasks, freeing capacity for customer engagement, data analysis, and strategic thinking — the core PM responsibilities.