Ask HN: Is Product Management a safer bet in 2017?

#1

Post by cofounderYC17 » Sat, Feb 18, 2017, 12:47 PM UTC

AI is moving fast and coding will soon be handled by machines. We, the developers, will lose our jobs. Most of us are pushing features, fixing bugs, etc. Things that don't involve creativity, decision making or business knowledge.

I have a feeling that Product Management will be the next big thing moving forward. Call me crazy - but it seems like a perfect candidate for software "development". All you need is to come up with a set of features and an MVP in mind, then the machines will build it for you.

What do you think? Should we make the switch now?

Re: Ask HN: Is Product Management a safer bet in 2017?

#2

Post by arms » Sat, Feb 18, 2017, 3:11 PM UTC

> Should we make the switch now?

You can, but until I see evidence that "We, the developers, will lose our jobs" any time soon, I'm going to continue doing what makes me happy, and that's coding.

Re: Ask HN: Is Product Management a safer bet in 2017?

#3

Post by wayn3 » Sat, Feb 18, 2017, 6:07 PM UTC

sounds like you are working an assembly line. you should certainly switch jobs, but for different reasons.

Re: Ask HN: Is Product Management a safer bet in 2017?

#4

Post by rfc » Sat, Feb 18, 2017, 7:44 PM UTC

I don't mean for this comment to come off as condescending but if you think that all a PM does is "come up with features and an MVP" and have people build it, then I think you ought to really go talk to multiple PMs to get their perspective on what their job entails.

Coming up with features is just one of the 100s of different items a PM will do on a daily basis.

Re: Ask HN: Is Product Management a safer bet in 2017?

#5

Post by shahbaby » Sun, Feb 19, 2017, 12:42 AM UTC

The fact is that no one knows how close or how far we are from true general intelligence.

A human will be needed until that happens.

After that point, how our society will change is anyone's guess.

Re: Ask HN: Is Product Management a safer bet in 2017?

#6

Post by cofounderYC17 » Sun, Feb 19, 2017, 1:34 AM UTC

rfc wrote: post #4

I don't mean for this comment to come off as condescending but if you think that all a PM does is "come up with features and an MVP" and have people build it, then I think you ought to really go talk to multiple PMs to get their perspective on what their job entails. Coming up with features is just one of the 100s of different items a PM will do on a daily basis.

Of course... listing all the PM tasks is not the point here. I'm referring to tasks that are in direct relationship with coding. If we get rid of the coding step then the closest thing is the PM. Which is the point I'm trying to make here.

I sure know about the vision, strategy, blablabla... that's why I think it's the best bet, because those skills will be harder to replace compared to programming languages.

Re: Ask HN: Is Product Management a safer bet in 2017?

#7

Post by cofounderYC17 » Sun, Feb 19, 2017, 1:37 AM UTC

wayn3 wrote: post #3

sounds like you are working an assembly line. you should certainly switch jobs, but for different reasons.

Sounds like you've never heard about Agile/Scrum and the software lifecycle. Developers are resources, they get allocated on a set of tasks. Have you ever heard of velocity? It's the number of tasks a group of developers can complete in one single iteration. It's called productivity. Welcome to the modern world my friend, it is indeed a factory out there and I don't know where you work but it might be outdated. You should google about the Software lifecycle. It's good to know if you're in the software business.

Re: Ask HN: Is Product Management a safer bet in 2017?

#8

Post by mrits » Sun, Feb 19, 2017, 4:04 AM UTC

cofounderYC17 wrote: post #7

wayn3 wrote: post #3

sounds like you are working an assembly line. you should certainly switch jobs, but for different reasons.

Sounds like you've never heard about Agile/Scrum and the software lifecycle. Developers are resources, they get allocated on a set of tasks. Have you ever heard of velocity? It's the number of tasks a group of developers can complete in one single iteration. It's called productivity. Welcome to the modern world my friend, it is indeed a factory out there and I don't know where you work but it might be outdated. You s…

Oh to be young and dumb again

Re: Ask HN: Is Product Management a safer bet in 2017?

#9

Post by imauld » Sun, Feb 19, 2017, 9:33 AM UTC

cofounderYC17 wrote: post #7

wayn3 wrote: post #3

sounds like you are working an assembly line. you should certainly switch jobs, but for different reasons.

Sounds like you've never heard about Agile/Scrum and the software lifecycle. Developers are resources, they get allocated on a set of tasks. Have you ever heard of velocity? It's the number of tasks a group of developers can complete in one single iteration. It's called productivity. Welcome to the modern world my friend, it is indeed a factory out there and I don't know where you work but it might be outdated. You s…

> Welcome to the modern world my friend, it is indeed a factory out there and I don't know where you work but it might be outdated.

The Manifesto for Agile Software Development turned 10 years old... in 2011.

Re: Ask HN: Is Product Management a safer bet in 2017?

#10

Post by wayn3 » Sun, Feb 19, 2017, 2:00 PM UTC

cofounderYC17 wrote: post #7

wayn3 wrote: post #3

sounds like you are working an assembly line. you should certainly switch jobs, but for different reasons.

Sounds like you've never heard about Agile/Scrum and the software lifecycle. Developers are resources, they get allocated on a set of tasks. Have you ever heard of velocity? It's the number of tasks a group of developers can complete in one single iteration. It's called productivity. Welcome to the modern world my friend, it is indeed a factory out there and I don't know where you work but it might be outdated. You s…

I'm not writing thin crud Apps