1 tip & 3 resources per week to improve your Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery practices in less than 5 minutes. Explore my new book on realprogressbook.com
How it feels being Interviewed by AI
How it feels being Interviewed by AIDear Reader, Last week, I invited you to join an AI-led concept test of a side project idea. Here's what participants share with me about their experience: "It was like getting interviewed by someone who is doing this one of the first times." "I felt free to say what I wanted without 'hurting' the interviewers. I felt listened (as the AI was repeating my points). But sometimes the conversation was cut off weirdly." "The AI often interrupted me when I was thinking. In addition, it often started to respond, realized I wasn't finished, and then took a completely different approach, forgetting what it had said before. After two or three interruptions, I naturally lost the desire to speak naturally and fell into a telephone agent's way of speaking." So, what can you make of this? Obviously, this is an n=3 sample, so it's not a definitive judgment on AI interviewers' capabilities. So, with a grain of salt, here's what I'm observing:
The main caveat I shared last week about being intentional, where you insert AI into your discovery practices for what purposes, remains true: "Would users actually adopt it?" is a red flag in interview-style research, regardless of scale. Because humans suck at predicting future behavior - especially when it comes to trading time or money for a new solution. Concept testing provides insights into fundamental customer sentiment toward a visual design or gaps in understanding. But they won't help you predict what will get adopted or bought. To get strong evidence about feature adoption or willingness-to-pay, you need to turn to behavioral methods, not attitudinal methods like interviews (no matter if a human or an AI does them). As a result, here's how I would summarize the current state of AI tooling in the context of Product Discovery: Oh, and in case you're curious: Here's the live link to the (messy and work-in-progress) prototype I used for concept testing: Pour Over Diary - A Platform for Specialty Coffee Enthusiasts. Thank you for Practicing Product, Tim Get my BookAs a Product Management Coach, I guide Product Teams to measure the real progress of their evidence-informed decisions. I focus on better practices to connect the dots of Product Strategy, Product OKRs, and Product Discovery. |
Product Practice Newsletter
1 tip & 3 resources per week to improve your Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery practices in less than 5 minutes. Explore my new book on realprogressbook.com
Product Practice #398 The AI-Assisted ProductDiscovery Cheatsheet PUBLISHED Mar 6, 2026 READ ON HERBIG.CO Dear Reader, I'll cut to the chase: A few weeks ago, I thought about synthesizing high-level guidance on what stays the same and what needs to change in Product Discovery with AI - beyond the ever-changing tool details. So, I reached out to one of my favorite Product AI-thinkers right now, Julia Bastian (who's knowledgeable, pragmatic, and practical), and we compiled this graphic for you....
Product Practice #397 3 Things to Put into YourNext Strategy Document PUBLISHED Feb 27, 2026 READ ON HERBIG.CO Dear Reader, The most effective strategy document I've seen doesn't worry about the looks or format. Whether it's a scrappy Google Doc or a fancy Miro template, what matters is the quality and cohesiveness of the information it contains. Make sure what you cover aligns with your company's expected standards to ensure stakeholder understanding and, consequently, buy-in. But make sure...
Hallo liebe:r Leser:in, English Translation below for internal forwarding to your German colleagues Du lieferst Features aus und wirst nach KPIs gefragt – ohne Verbindung zu Erfolg für Nutzer:innen und Geschäft. Die Strategie deines Unternehmens ist entweder zu vage oder fehlt ganz. Das Ergebnis: Alibi Progress statt echter Wirkung.In meinem Workshop "Strategische Umsetzung statt KPIs abarbeiten – Entwicklung & Messung von Produktstrategie am 4. Mai im Rahmen der Product Owner Days 2026...