Chapter 2. The product development lifecycle: what AI changes
Chapter 1 built your personal operating system for AI: the four pillars of clarity, judgment, taste, and accountability. Now those pillars have to meet the actual work of building software, inside the decisions and artifacts and handoffs that happen between an idea and a shipped feature.
The product development lifecycle (PDLC) is the process most PMs already know, even if their team calls it something different. Discovery, then definition, then delivery, then launch, then iteration. AI does not replace this process. It changes where the hard work concentrates, how fast each stage moves, and what fails when you carry old assumptions into new territory.
Most PMs who bring AI into their workflow feel the speed gains immediately and discover the new complexity later, usually during a production incident. This chapter maps both: where you will move faster, where you will slow down, and what new work you will need to do that your current process does not account for.
2.1 The classic PDLC: five stages, ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access