Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, partner Josh Elman said product management is fundamentally about telling a story rather than producing specification documents. In a post cited by ChainCatcher, Elman looked back on his early career at RealNetworks, where he started as an engineer and worked on the product and engineering teams for RealPlayer, a product that had hundreds of millions of users at the time. He also recalled interviewing for LinkedIn with Reid Hoffman, who asked what the output of a product manager was. Elman said he answered "specifications" at the time, but later came to see that as the wrong answer. In his view, the real output is a story that other people can repeat even when the product manager is not in the room. Elman added that he once wrote a 120-page specification document during his time at LinkedIn. He also argued that AI is collapsing production costs and reversing the development loop, making it possible to build prototypes first, test how they feel, and then move into design and release.
According to ChainCatcher, a16z partner Josh Elman said in a post that product management is about storytelling.
Elman said his career began at RealNetworks, where he worked as an engineer and was responsible for the product and engineering teams behind RealPlayer. At the time, he said, the product had hundreds of millions of users.
He also recalled interviewing for LinkedIn with Reid Hoffman, who asked him what the output of a product manager was. Elman said he answered "specifications" then, but later concluded that was the wrong answer. The real output, he said, is a story that people can pass along without him being present.
During his time at LinkedIn, Elman said he once wrote a 120-page specification document.
On AI and product development, Elman said AI is driving production costs sharply lower and reversing the development loop. Instead of moving from specifications and scope to building and then experience, teams can use AI to quickly build a prototype first and see how it feels. He said prototypes are better than assumptions, after which teams can move to design and release.
Elman also said demos are nearly free, while working products are not, making the decision over what to build a debate about impact.
In his view, vision consists of purpose, core action, and cycle. He added that onboarding is the most important moment for telling the story, and teams should ask whether people are actually using the product.
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