When Product Work Starts Going in Circles - Follow Up Story
AI and the shift from execution to organizational learning
What happened after writing a recent Product Management IRL article? These insights are for paid subscribers to Product Management IRL.
This week’s backstory is about handling organizational change as a product manager:
What Prompted This Article?
When I wrote this article, I felt responsible for the delays in my product initiative.
This initiative was tricky:
first time for an embedded technology partner
high risk of costly mistakes
dependency on new automation
adjacent market segment with only early customer demand
In addition to being a sensitive initiative, AI and modernization-related process changes are beginning. And there are a couple of re-orgs in the mix.
Tricky product work mixed with org changes are normal. What isn’t normal is my reaction to take so much stress on myself.
I felt responsible for the delays because of this feedback:
“I still don’t think we fully understand this.”
“This needs more detail.”
“I’m not confident we’ve thought this through.”
I was spinning my wheels trying to respond to every possibility.
Honestly, I thought stakeholders and my leaders were worried about manageable risks. If they knew more about the offer, then they would be less worried.
This idea led me to learning-stage products. These are products that need the organization to learn along with me. I would focus on phasing the learning:
Moving myself to a learning-stage product would help me focus on the basics of my product initiative. I wasn’t sure about getting powerful stakeholders into learning-stage product handling.
