Quick reminder: we're planning to meet next Tuesday, July 28th. We're diving into the changing roles in product management. And I think this one matters because a lot of folks come into PM thinking there's one way to do it. One archetype. But the reality is way messier and more interesting than that. Want to check to see who is thinking they'll be able to join? If everyone is on holiday, we can postpone to August?

Four of us sat down to talk about Prioritization Hell. A few things that stuck with me: - Clear is kind. Brené Brown said it and every one of us had a story that proved it. The support team that replaced "we've logged your feedback" with "honestly, there's a 0.5% chance this happens" — and customers thanked them for it. The product leader who killed a low-traffic website simply by saying it wasn't in Q2, Q3, or Q4. They shut it down. Right outcome, finally. - Frameworks are a communication tool, not a decision engine. Did the iPhone come out of a spreadsheet? Use RICE when you have a specific problem. Use it to break a tie. Use it to teach a junior PM how to think. Don't use it to pretend a decision you've already made is data driven. - The hardest no isn't the off-strategy stuff. That gets easier with experience. The hard no is the thing that's genuinely good, has real support, and you still have to kill it because you only have so much bandwidth and you have to protect the best stuff. - AI is making prioritization harder, not easier. Everyone sees what's possible now. The CFO wants to know why you can't ship faster. The backlog got longer. The requests got louder. "I've created a monster" was said out loud by at least one person in the room. This is what The Product Room is for. Not slides. Not frameworks. Just honest conversation with people who've been in the same rooms. Next session coming next month. Watch this space. @Rob Taylor @Therese Alburg @Jay Fluegel what landed for you last night? Did I miss anything? Drop it below.

A report dropped this week from 1,500+ CPOs that's making some noise. The headline: the traditional Product Manager role will be obsolete by 2030. Product Builder roles — hybrid PM and engineering — grew 10x in a year. PM roles in SaaS declined 70%. 70%. Here's my take after 25 years in this industry: The role isn't dying. It's shedding its skin. Every few years someone announces the death of the PM and what actually happens is the weakest version of the role disappears and something stronger emerges. What's going away is the PM who manages process, attends meetings, and writes tickets. What's staying — and getting more valuable — is the person who can think across the whole system, own outcomes, and build real relationships with engineers and customers. That's always been the job. AI is just accelerating the reckoning. What do you think? Does this feel like noise or does it land differently when you look at what's happening inside your own organization? 👉 2026 CPO Insights Report

Thanks @Rob Taylor for a great kickoff chat this morning!! Enjoyed hearing about your product journey and looking forward to talking more.