How are intelligent tools reshaping the role of product?
This week: Let's review some platforms offering AI features and how they could shape the future of our product careers.
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to weave itself into the fabric of our product lives, the platforms and apps we rely on rapidly evolve, reshaping how we work and what’s expected of us as product professionals.
Tools like JIRA and MIRO are at the forefront of this transformation, providing capabilities that are not only innovative but also incredibly beneficial, especially for smaller organizations with greener team members.
This week, we explore some of the innovative features making their way into the market, how they benefit product people, and why they should be at the forefront of our minds as we consider our evolution in the workforce.
The rise of AI-powered platforms.
Many know JIRA extremely well and have been using their platform for years.
Long recognized for its robust project management capabilities, JIRA now offers AI tools that can automatically generate user stories from an epic. This is a game-changer for teams with less experience crafting work items. I’ve played with them a bit recently, and although they don’t always hit the mark, they work quite well and are 100% dependent on a well-written epic.
This feature and their other intelligence tools are game-changers for teams that might lack experience crafting detailed user stories. It allows them to maintain a high standard of work without needing years of experience. It’s a significant step forward in streamlining the workflow, reducing the time spent on repetitive tasks, and ensuring consistency across the board.
Similarly, MIRO has integrated AI to enhance its collaborative platform. By creating visuals from simple prompts and text, MIRO allows even the least design-savvy team members to contribute effectively to visual brainstorming sessions.
This democratizes the creative process and ensures that ideas can be communicated quickly and efficiently, regardless of an individual’s technical skill level.
These tools benefit all - but especially smaller teams.
For smaller organizations or teams with less experienced members, these AI-driven features are invaluable. By reducing the learning curve and automating routine tasks, AI enables these teams to punch above their weight, focusing on strategic thinking and innovation rather than getting bogged down in execution.
AI features like those in JIRA and MIRO allow teams to focus more on strategic thinking and creative problem-solving rather than getting bogged down by the nitty-gritty of execution.
A startup with a small product team can leverage JIRA’s AI to ensure their user stories are thorough and aligned with their goals, even if they lack a dedicated product manager with years of experience. Similarly, MIRO’s AI can empower team members to create compelling visuals that drive home important points during presentations or brainstorming sessions, leveling the playing field and fostering a more collaborative environment.
Product people need to evolve our value proposition more than ever.
As these AI tools become more sophisticated and widely available, product professionals' expectations are also evolving. Simply writing user stories or managing a backlog is no longer enough. With AI handling more of our roles' technical and administrative aspects, product people need to focus on where we can truly add value—strategic vision, user empathy, and the ability to navigate complex problem spaces.
This shift means that product professionals must continue to grow and adapt.
We need to be comfortable with AI tools as users and integrators who can leverage these technologies to achieve broader business goals. The ability to think critically about how these tools can be best utilized and to push the boundaries of what they can do will become increasingly important.
I recently listened in on this video - a conversation between two high-level product folks at Intercom - that covers this topic quite well. Some of their takes on the increasing need to become very technical product people to evolve are interesting:
Final Thoughts.
Integrating AI into platforms like JIRA and MIRO presents undeniable benefits, particularly for smaller teams striving to maximize their impact with limited resources. But as these tools evolve, so must we.
As AI becomes more integrated into the tools we use every day, how are you planning to evolve in your role? What steps are you taking to ensure you add value in ways that AI can’t replicate?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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Mike Watson