AI Won't Save Your Product; Your Taste and Judgment Will

In this episode of Hard Calls, host Trisha Price and Dave Killeen, EMEA Field CPO at Pendo, explore how Dave’s curiosity about AI became an obsession and why every product leader needs to get hands-on with AI tools today.

But here's the twist: Dave is adamant that AI isn't here to replace your taste or judgment; it's here to amplify it. Dave shares his personal experiences using AI and how it has changed the way he works and his thinking about product management. He says what he’s been able to build now is just “absolute bonkers.”

Here's what you'll discover:

Why product taste and judgment are things AI can't replace. Why getting laid off might be the best thing that happens to your product career. The uncomfortable truth about product metrics and business outcomes. How to use AI for discovery and experimentation at a completely different scale. 

Hear more from Dave by subscribing to his podcast, The Vibe PM, where he demos new AI tools and explores use cases for product leaders.

Episode Chapters

(00:00) Introduction: Dave's Journey to AI Obsession(02:34) The Hard Call: Choosing Obsession Over Comfort(06:22) Why Every PM Needs Hands-On AI Experience(08:00) Voice-to-Text and Claude Code: The Velocity Multipliers(12:15) The 88% Problem: Disconnecting Teams From Business Outcomes(14:15) KPI Driver Trees: The DNA of Business Logic(17:45) AI Red-Teaming Itself to Improve Output(20:45) Product Taste Can't Be Replaced: Only Amplified(23:00) Rapid Prototyping and Discovery at Scale(26:30) The Default Mode Network: Why Rest Drives Creativity(28:15) Career Advice: Lean Into Your Gut and Taste(30:45) Hard Calls on People: The Three Riffs at Product Board(31:45) Closing: The Whack-a-Mole Game of Product Leadership

The Vibe PM podcast episodes mentioned on the show:

Build a KPI Driver Tree app: https://youtu.be/6rHXVwk8VEE Build a Personal Knowledge Management system: https://youtu.be/WaqgSvL-V10 

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Presented by Pendo. Discover more insights at https://www.pendo.io
Connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/trisha-price-3063081/.
Connect with Dave Killeen on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davekilleen/