In businesses blending services and tech, the "product" is the entire package of technology, services, and expertise delivering a client outcome. This redefines product management’s scope beyond just the application to the holistic customer experience and the results it generates.
As AI democratizes the act of building, the most crucial skills for product leaders are no longer technical. Instead, vision and judgment become paramount, followed by execution. Deep technical expertise is the least critical component, shifting focus from "how to build" to "what to build and why."
When deciding to build versus buy, tech-enhanced services companies should only build software that codifies their unique strategic opinions and subject matter expertise. Commoditized features, even if core to the workflow, are better bought or rented, preserving engineering for true differentiation.
To manage innovation when non-technical staff build AI tools, form a "triad": 1) an AI super-user from the business unit, 2) a dedicated tech partner for support and governance, and 3) the practice head to decide on scalability. This structure balances speed with stability.
As AI makes building software easier, a superior technical team is no longer a durable competitive advantage. The new "moats" are superior judgment (deciding what to build) and the organizational ability to deploy solutions at scale with proper governance and process.
The distinction between a software product and its human-led delivery is disappearing. Value is no longer in the application alone but in how it empowers human experts to deliver better outcomes. Product teams must design for this human-in-the-loop symbiosis, not just for the end user.