ChatGPT Reveals the 5 Essential AI PM Traits: Did I Agree?

Spoiler: I didn’t...read on to learn what I think they are based on over a decade of experience

I often get asked when I’m interviewing candidates what I think the top characteristics are of a good PM. After over a dozen years of experience, I’ve narrowed it down to 5. I decided it might be fun to ask ChatGPT what it thought were the top 5 characteristics to see how it compared – turns out we have a difference of opinion ;) 

Prompt: An abstract image of a someone who is technically Proficient, has good market insights, focuses on the user, is able to effectively communicate and solve problems, and able to adapt to different situations

My first prompt was simply “What are 5 characteristics of good AI Product Managers?” It responded with the following:

1. Technical Proficiency

2. Market Insight

3. User-Centric Approach

4. Strong Communication Skills

5. Adaptability and Problem-Solving

I then decided to revise my prompt to focus not just on good, but “the best”, and not just “5”, but “the top 5” to see if that would change things; the result:

1. Deep Technical Knowledge

2. Business Acumen

3. User-Centric Focus

4. Effective Leadership and Communication

5. Adaptability and Innovation

Prompt: An abstract image of a great storyteller who is passionate, smart, open to change and not scared of doing hard work

While I think all of these are good qualities to have, in my opinion the the best PMs I’ve ever worked with are always:

1. Passionate - passion is infectious, it makes people around you want to work harder and do better, which makes everyone more successful. Passionate people not only lift up a team, they attract other passionate people - creating a positive network effect. Conversely, no one wants to work with a downer.

2. Great storytellers - it isn’t enough to care deeply about what you do, you need to convince other people why they should. Data, user interviews, market insights…while these are all good tools, the most effective PMs I’ve ever worked with know how to take all of these and spin them into a great story that others believe and get behind. 

3. Willing to do the “dirty work” - at the end of the day, no work should be beneath you - the success of a product is your top priority. Although you might not love some of the things you end up needing to do (I’ve spent my fair share of time diving into the details of things ideally other people would have done) - you need to be willing to do them anyway. Once the project is done, you can figure out ways to not need to do those tasks in the future…but if push comes to shove and you find yourself in a position of needing to do it again, roll up your sleeves and do it. Then try again to find ways to not end up in the same situation. 

4. Smart - some people say that hard work is what matters, and while I believe that hard work is important (see #3), there is no replacement for someone who is just inherently smart. Smart people can think on their feet in meetings, enabling things to move faster, allowing teams to get more done.

5. Open to change - this one is especially true in the AI landscape where things are changing at breakneck speed. Roadmaps are planned out in weeks, not quarters or years (more to come on this in a future post). If you aren’t able to adapt to change, you will find yourself being left behind.