Microsoft CPO: If you aren’t prototyping with AI you’re doing it wrong | Aparna Chennapragada

This episode explores the evolving landscape of product development in the age of AI, featuring Aparna Chennapragada, Chief Product Officer at Microsoft, who shares her insights on navigating the intersection of AI and product strategy. Chennapragada emphasizes the importance of rapid prototyping and building to truly understand what needs to be built, advocating for "prompt sets" as the new PRDs. Against the backdrop of compressed tech cycles, she highlights the need for enterprise companies to balance innovation with governance and change management, suggesting a "Frontier Program" to allow early adopters to experiment with cutting-edge AI features. More significantly, Chennapragada introduces the concept of "NLX" (Natural Language Interface) as the new UX, emphasizing the design principles behind conversational interfaces and the need for editorial and taste-making functions in product development. As the discussion pivoted to the future of product management, Chennapragada argues that while coding skills remain essential, the role of product managers will evolve towards taste-making and editing, especially with the increasing supply of AI-generated ideas and prototypes. Emerging industry patterns reflected in Chennapragada's insights suggest a shift towards collaborative human-AI co-working spaces and a reevaluation of traditional product development metrics in favor of qualitative feedback and a focus on solving before scaling.