The Product Manager Revolution: From Mockups to Functional Code

Collapse review cycles: let PMs prove feasibility with V0 in minutes, then iterate with engineering on what’s production‑ready.

Sep 29, 2025 0m 20s

James LePage

Expert Insights

James LePage foresees a transition in the role of product managers, propelled by AI-assisted software development. He positions AI as a tool enabling PMs to move beyond mockups and validate their concepts with real, albeit non-production-ready, code.

James paints a picture of future product management where AI reduces dependency on design teams for initial prototyping, speeding up the review process and providing an early demonstration of technical feasibility.

Hear James explain:

How AI-assisted development empowers product managers to create functional prototypes themselves, reducing the design phase of the workflow.
The advantages of presenting a technically plausible concept as opposed to a mockup in review stages.
The need for product managers to gain coding skills to maximize the benefits of AI in their role.

We have product managers who in the past would have to work with design for two weeks to get to prototypes. Now they're going in five, coding this stuff with the complete understanding that this is not going to go production. But it's gonna be a really good example of, this is what I'm thinking. Here I have proven that it's technically possible and now we don't need to go through that back and forth review stage.

— James LePage, Director of Engineering AI, Automattic

THE NEW DEFAULT angle

Consider these actionable takeaways as your team explores implementing AI-assisted workflows:

Invest in up-skilling product managers. Encourage them to learn basic coding for prototyping to fully leverage the capabilities of AI and avoid outdated, time-consuming methods.
Rethink the design review process. As AI empowers product managers to establish technical feasibility early on, aim to reduce the influence of multiple iterative reviews, speeding up product iteration.
Adjust team interactions accordingly. As product managers' roles evolve with AI integration, set clear communications about their expanded roles to facilitate smooth transitions and maintain cohesion within the development team.
Encourage technical experimentation in ideation stages. Foster a culture that allows product managers to test the technical feasibility of their ideas using AI, promoting idea validation at earlier stages.