Titan Bagus BramantyoInformation Technology Project Manager @Bukit VistaSleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
I once heard about someone—a product owner and also a project manager—whose company told them that their role was being eroded in the AI era. Developers can now leverage AI and automation to initiate PRDs and even turn them directly into backlogs. That was the reason the company said their role was no longer needed.
What do you think, community? Because I personally believe that, no matter what, the role of a product owner or project manager remains crucial to the success of a project.
PM Consultant| CLOUD SAFE CO., LTD.New Taipei City, NWT, Taiwan
Interesting point. I think AI may reduce part of the workload for both Product Owners and Project Managers — especially in drafting, summarization, and backlog support. But that does not remove the need for either role. POs still create product clarity and set priorities, while PMs drive alignment, manage trade-offs, and ensure accountable delivery. AI may reshape the work, but not replace the value behind it.
...
1 reply by Ericka Frazier
Mar 31, 2026 11:04 AM
Ericka Frazier
...
Agreed.
Saving Changes...
ritika dalalTechnical Project Manager| Incedo IncFaridabad, India
I think Human Edge is what AI can not replace. Empathy, real time decisions, stakeholder engagement and people first and balance between client and people is where real humans as project managers will always be needed. AI can compliment the ongoing tasks for managers and enhance their productivity but not replace them.
...
1 reply by Titan Bagus Bramantyo
Mar 25, 2026 9:53 AM
Titan Bagus Bramantyo
...
I also have hypothesis that the upper management underestimates the job of either Product Owner or Project Manager.
Maybe they just think backlog management activity is a simple thing. But, like what you said, actually it also talks about empathy and stakeholder management.
Saving Changes...
Jonathan BurtGlobal Project Manager| DigiTek-USAAuburn Hills, Mi, United States
Good morning fellow PMP Community,
Just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and look in the thread to learn a few things and see how I can contribute.
Have a great day,
Jonathan Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
I am working with IA from 1989 in research and practical applications in all type of projects and into project management and business analysis roles application. First of all: AI is a board term. Unfortunately some people and organizations, today, are confusing generative AI which AI. Second, what you stated is something that has been discussed from long, long time ago. Third, AI is based on "human in the loop" concept. Mainly today with generative Ai where things like Agent and Agentic architectures demands human intervetion to adjust models and answers. No matter that, what indeed will happened, is that people that are not able to use AI, mainly generative AI, will be impacted in keep their job or find a new job. AI is just a tool, no more than that.
...
1 reply by Titan Bagus Bramantyo
Mar 25, 2026 9:48 AM
Titan Bagus Bramantyo
...
Yes, that's the importance of involving competent people in the refinement of generative AI.
It would be a major problem to replace someone who is competent and understands what an AI Agent needs to do—in this case, the product owner/project manager—with someone who isn't. The results will inevitably lack detail.
Eliminating the human-in-the-loop is a big risk. Yes, generative AI can produce PRDs, use cases, user stories, risk lists with mitigation strategies, etc., but unless you've trained generative AI on every aspect of your business, there will be content that doesn't apply, and I've noticed, lately, that some of the content will be in a different language that you didn't ask for and don't read or speak. It's also likely that, at least at companies that do more than just build software for sale, the developers won't know enough about the business to be able to find all the gaps in the documentation.
If you just need generic software that you'll be enhancing, over time, in response to customer requests, AI can do that all day. If you need to customize an SAP module for a new overseas warehouse sourcing specific ingredients that will be shipped to a different facility for processing and then on to a local lab to be included in a new product, AI can certainly help at multiple points, and some of it can be automated, but the developers aren't going to just "know" what to do on their own.
...
1 reply by Titan Bagus Bramantyo
Mar 25, 2026 9:43 AM
Titan Bagus Bramantyo
...
That's correct! Both —product owner and project manager— also act as Knowledge Manager who ensuring the documentation is up-to date and accessible by the team.
It strongly correlated with company's culture, are the employees accustomed to a documentation culture? Because documentation not only from technical aspect, right? It also talked about business process flow, policies, etc.
AI is a great tool but we don't think they're going to be replacing everything that a project manager does in its current iteration. With AI becoming bigger and bigger, I think great project managers and product owners are going to be able to utilize it to become more productive themselves.
AI is great for work like generating insights from the data you collect. An example of this is the use case of lessons learned. Wouldn't it be great if you could generate insights from the lessons that your project managers are learning to help make smarter data-driven business decisions?
This is how we're leveraging AI as project managers and have even built a tool to do this called WorkshopIQ.
...
2 replies by Ericka Frazier and Titan Bagus Bramantyo
Mar 25, 2026 9:38 AM
Titan Bagus Bramantyo
...
Yes, that is what we called as "AI-powered Product Owner/Project Manager", right? Thank you, Sir for the perspective!
Mar 31, 2026 11:10 AM
Ericka Frazier
...
I agree with this reply. AI will not replace human skills but enhance them. Proving that humans are very much needed to improve AI capabilities is at the forefront of this wave. Propaganda has instilled fear in many professions by insinuating that AI agents will somehow replace them in their positions. While this may be true for automated positions that require mechanical, repetitive work, it is not true for positions that require human skills and abilities, subs cognitive skills and communication. Sure, AI can read an email and produce an answer, but can it ever be emotionally intelligent? Read the attitude and energy a human is giving in a meeting? At this point, no. So being afraid of becoming obsolete due to AI is a myth.
I think AI can replace a lot of PM jobs, particularly earlier in a person's career when the types of projects assigned are often routine in nature, rather than those requiring significant innovation and strategic thinking.
In large companies, there are still often a lot of routine but projectized work. It can be related to the product such as improvements and parts obsolescence, process improvements both directly related to the product build, or office related processes. It's all necessary work, but the most critical skill of the PM is often understanding the company change process and the status reporting processes. In one job I managed up to 12 new customer projects at any time, but only 1 or 2 at a time had any technical or business risk of note and could be largely automated. If you significantly decrease the number of human tasks in the process and the incoming projects stay relatively stable, then headcount decreases.
Highly complex projects are mush more difficult to eliminate the person. AI may help with my writing tone, but I still decide the appropriate tone for my important communications. When I've led projects to solve complex engineering projects, I've learned important things directly from operators and technicians that were not written down anywhere.. AI could help draft my patent applications, but didn't invent the novel idea being documented. How would negotiating schedules work with clients and suppliers? Have your AI talk to my AI?
Even though there's still a strong need for the human PM, that still poses a challenge for PMs new and veteran. There's a talent pipeline paradox: If you need experienced people to manage the most difficult or innovative projects, but you let AI manage most of the routine work, where do employees get the experience that leads to wisdom and creative problem solving? Also since projects are temporary by nature, sometimes they don't end at the perfect time for the next great opportunity, we need work until it does.
...
1 reply by Titan Bagus Bramantyo
Mar 25, 2026 9:36 AM
Titan Bagus Bramantyo
...
Totally agree with this, Sir! AI would reduce the repetitive processes that actually can be done by them and let POs or PMs to do more strategic things that can support company goal. Total delegation of the product owner or project manager's role to developer possibly be success if the employee's project management fundamental is good. But, it will distract developer's focus to build product, and instead also focus in people management.
Saving Changes...
Titan Bagus BramantyoInformation Technology Project Manager @Bukit VistaSleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Mar 24, 2026 11:29 PM
Replying to Keith Novak
...
I think AI can replace a lot of PM jobs, particularly earlier in a person's career when the types of projects assigned are often routine in nature, rather than those requiring significant innovation and strategic thinking.
In large companies, there are still often a lot of routine but projectized work. It can be related to the product such as improvements and parts obsolescence, process improvements both directly related to the product build, or office related processes. It's all necessary work, but the most critical skill of the PM is often understanding the company change process and the status reporting processes. In one job I managed up to 12 new customer projects at any time, but only 1 or 2 at a time had any technical or business risk of note and could be largely automated. If you significantly decrease the number of human tasks in the process and the incoming projects stay relatively stable, then headcount decreases.
Highly complex projects are mush more difficult to eliminate the person. AI may help with my writing tone, but I still decide the appropriate tone for my important communications. When I've led projects to solve complex engineering projects, I've learned important things directly from operators and technicians that were not written down anywhere.. AI could help draft my patent applications, but didn't invent the novel idea being documented. How would negotiating schedules work with clients and suppliers? Have your AI talk to my AI?
Even though there's still a strong need for the human PM, that still poses a challenge for PMs new and veteran. There's a talent pipeline paradox: If you need experienced people to manage the most difficult or innovative projects, but you let AI manage most of the routine work, where do employees get the experience that leads to wisdom and creative problem solving? Also since projects are temporary by nature, sometimes they don't end at the perfect time for the next great opportunity, we need work until it does.
Totally agree with this, Sir! AI would reduce the repetitive processes that actually can be done by them and let POs or PMs to do more strategic things that can support company goal. Total delegation of the product owner or project manager's role to developer possibly be success if the employee's project management fundamental is good. But, it will distract developer's focus to build product, and instead also focus in people management.
Saving Changes...
Titan Bagus BramantyoInformation Technology Project Manager @Bukit VistaSleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Mar 24, 2026 6:58 PM
Replying to Jacob Vu
...
AI is a great tool but we don't think they're going to be replacing everything that a project manager does in its current iteration. With AI becoming bigger and bigger, I think great project managers and product owners are going to be able to utilize it to become more productive themselves.
AI is great for work like generating insights from the data you collect. An example of this is the use case of lessons learned. Wouldn't it be great if you could generate insights from the lessons that your project managers are learning to help make smarter data-driven business decisions?
This is how we're leveraging AI as project managers and have even built a tool to do this called WorkshopIQ.
Yes, that is what we called as "AI-powered Product Owner/Project Manager", right? Thank you, Sir for the perspective! Saving Changes...
Titan Bagus BramantyoInformation Technology Project Manager @Bukit VistaSleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Mar 24, 2026 10:46 AM
Replying to Aaron Porter
...
Eliminating the human-in-the-loop is a big risk. Yes, generative AI can produce PRDs, use cases, user stories, risk lists with mitigation strategies, etc., but unless you've trained generative AI on every aspect of your business, there will be content that doesn't apply, and I've noticed, lately, that some of the content will be in a different language that you didn't ask for and don't read or speak. It's also likely that, at least at companies that do more than just build software for sale, the developers won't know enough about the business to be able to find all the gaps in the documentation.
If you just need generic software that you'll be enhancing, over time, in response to customer requests, AI can do that all day. If you need to customize an SAP module for a new overseas warehouse sourcing specific ingredients that will be shipped to a different facility for processing and then on to a local lab to be included in a new product, AI can certainly help at multiple points, and some of it can be automated, but the developers aren't going to just "know" what to do on their own.
That's correct! Both —product owner and project manager— also act as Knowledge Manager who ensuring the documentation is up-to date and accessible by the team.
It strongly correlated with company's culture, are the employees accustomed to a documentation culture? Because documentation not only from technical aspect, right? It also talked about business process flow, policies, etc. Saving Changes...
Community Champion
