Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 3/5

Atawodi: PMs fail if AI can write their PRDs from research alone

Ebi Atawodi · Crafting a compelling product vision | Ebi Atawodi (YouTube, Netflix, Uber) · Dec 3, 2023 · at 36:20

Ebi Atawodi (Director of Product Management at YouTube) discusses why product management requires gut judgment and curation rather than robotic synthesis of data.

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“If I could put all the research into BARD or ChatGPT, and it could spit out a PRD, Then you haven't done your job.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

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Assertion Not checkable as stated
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