Why the AI Era Needs Product Managers Who Can Think
This is quite interesting.
Recently, I came across an article titled The Problem with Vibe Coding, which popped a big bubble in the current AI-powered coding tools.
What is Vibe Coding?
Simply put, itâs âwhen the vibe is right, the code writes itselfââusing AI to generate code without needing to understand technical details, just by describing requirements. Sounds great, right? But the article drops a hard truth: Even if AI can write code for you, you still need to know what youâre actually building.
This hits way too close to home.
Iâve seen plenty of teams go wild with GPT, only to realize the final code isnât what they wanted. Why? Because no matter how advanced AI gets, it canât answer questions like âWhy are we building this feature?â or âWhatâs the userâs real pain point?â
Technical barriers drop, but cognitive barriers remain
Todayâs tools do let non-coders âbuild things,â but hereâs the kicker: Most people still canât clearly define what that âthingâ should even look like. Itâs like being handed a magic brush but having no idea what to paintâyouâll just end up with a messy doodle.
The article introduces a concept called Solutioning (solution design), which I think is key. Itâs not about coding skills but the ability to turn vague requirements into concrete solutions. Ironically, this has become the biggest bottleneckâbecause AI hasnât learned it yet.
PMs in the AI era might need to âregressâ
Hereâs a harsh reality: Product managers may have to relearn forgotten fundamentals.
Not wireframing, not writing PRDs, but truly understanding business logic and dissecting complex problems. Because when code is no longer the barrier, the person who can define the problem clearly will wield AI like a scalpel.
Itâs actually pretty ironic.
For the past decade, weâve heard âeveryone can be a developer,â but now weâre realizing: The scarcest resource isnât codersâitâs thinkers. AI has democratized execution, but decision-making demands even more expertise.
So donât let tools mislead you
Too many teams are obsessed with âpiling up features using AI,â but users donât care. At the end of the day, tools are just amplifiersâgarbage requirements powered by AI will only give you garbage products faster.
(Original article here: https://solutioning.rocket.new/vibe-coding-problem â worth a read.)
One last brutal truth:
Many AI startups today are the biggest victims of Vibe Codingâtheyâre frantically building with GPT but canât articulate whose problem theyâre solving. Now thatâs dark humor.