In this episode of Product Voices, JJ Rorie sits down with Amanda Di Dio, Vice President of Partnerships at Optimistic Design, to explore how product teams can thoughtfully navigate AI without losing sight of what matters most: people.

Amanda shares her journey from traditional program and product management into systems thinking and human-centered design—and how that shift changed the way she views responsibility, impact, and decision-making in product work. Together, JJ and Amanda unpack what systems thinking really looks like in practice, how product teams can embed research and co-creation without overhauling their entire process, and why slowing down early often leads to better outcomes later.

The conversation also dives into AI’s growing role in product development and the opportunities and risks that come with moving fast. From responsible design and bias awareness to the danger of jumping to solutions too quickly, this episode offers a grounded, pragmatic take on building products with care in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Finally, Amanda shares advice for aspiring product managers navigating a tough job market, including how to build perspective, develop craft beyond the basics, and stay human in an increasingly automated world.

This episode is a must-listen for product managers, designers, educators, and leaders who want to build meaningful products—without losing their soul in the process.

In this insightful episode of Product Voices, JJ Rorie talks with Gopikrishnan Anilkumar, Principal Product Manager at Amazon and member of the Forbes Technology Council, about how artificial intelligence is transforming the craft of product management.

Gopikrishnan shares his journey from traditional software product management to leading AI-driven teams at major companies like Amazon, Walmart, and Goldman Sachs. Together, JJ and Gopikrishnan explore what remains constant in great product management—customer empathy, communication, structured thinking, and stakeholder alignment—and what’s changing fast as AI becomes central to how products are built, learned from, and improved.

Listeners will learn how AI product managers differ from traditional ones, not because they code or build models, but because they design experiences that learn and evolve. Gopikrishnan explains how metrics shift (from satisfaction and revenue to latency, model performance, and hallucination rates), how teams expand to include machine learning scientists and evaluators, and why “being AI-aware” is now an essential product skill.

Topics Covered:

• The evolution from traditional to AI product management
• Why PM fundamentals—empathy, communication, alignment—never go out of style
• How AI changes metrics, responsibility, and stakeholder complexity
• Designing for trust, safety, and explainability in AI experiences
• The mindset shift from building features to architecting experiences
• The experimental nature of AI product work (build, test, learn, repeat)
• Why you don’t need to be a machine learning expert to be an AI PM
• How every PM will soon interact with AI in some form
• Advice for PMs transitioning into AI and for new PMs entering the field

Key Quotes:

Takeaways:

• Trust and responsibility are the new pillars of AI-driven product management.
• Product management is evolving from control to influence — guiding systems that learn and adapt.
• Continuous experimentation and iteration are essential in AI environments.
• AI literacy is becoming as foundational as digital or mobile literacy once was.

In this episode of Product Voices, Vinod Thomas, a product manager at Google, discusses his non-traditional journey into product management. He emphasizes the importance of transferable skills such as communication, collaboration, and data analytics, while debunking the myth that coding is essential for the role. Vinod highlights the value of networking and building genuine professional relationships as key to career advancement. He offers advice for aspiring product managers to understand the role deeply and connect their unique backgrounds to product management. His insights provide a roadmap for successfully transitioning into this field.