Product managers regain value through taste and model intuition
As AI lowers the barrier to building software, product managers are becoming critical for filtering low-quality outputs and providing strategic direction. The role is shifting from writing requirements to validating model capabilities and defining product taste.
Tulsi observed a resurgence in the value of product managers in the AI era, noting that while AI makes building software easy, it creates a flood of low-quality outputs. She argues that product managers are now critical for providing 'taste,' filtering signal from noise, and driving consensus to turn chaos into order. She advises hiring individuals who understand the 'vibes' of models, play with them daily, and are technical enough to build evaluations. Tulsi recommended starting with small-scale evaluations of 5 to 20 prompts to stress-test capabilities.
Tulsi also introduced a '60-20-20' rule for building products: 60% of features should work now, 20% should work well enough with near-future model improvements, and 20% should be ambitious bets on future capabilities. She emphasized that product managers must be agile, as roadmaps may need rewriting every two weeks due to rapid model changes. The role has shifted from writing requirements to providing strategic insight, taste, and technical validation, making it more valuable as AI lowers the barrier to building software. When anything can be built easily, building something great becomes a unique value add.