Solving complex problems with clarity and purpose.
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For millennia, humans have invented dozens of ways to survive, as individuals, beyond the limits of our physical existence. Does generative AI appear to exist in a transcendent state we have only aspired to? On some level, do we resent that apparently privileged position? In short, do we envy AI?
Voxly was flying. The fitness facility management startup had signed three major chains in four months. Each new client meant rushing to configure their properties in Voxly's system—class schedules, instructor assignments, studio capacity limits, member restrictions. The admin interface was barebones, but who had time for field validation when Fitness Chain Y needed to go live before their board meeting?
“We'll build proper safeguards later,” became the team refrain. “Right now we need to get these partnerships announced.”
Six months later, same energy, different emotion.
We don't have to summit Everest. We can get rapid prototyping benefits without vibecoding. We've been prototyping all along. AI assistance expands what's possible without requiring us to master developer toolchains.
I've always used prototypes in my practice for all kinds of reasons: to communicate, explore ideas, elicit requirements, and more. My prototyping menu includes everything from manual, analog, and low- or no-tech right up through high-fidelity functioning and styled prototypes. Selecting and using appropriate methods fluently is central to how I work as a PM. (And now thanks to AI I can do this faster, better, easier, and more independently. I’m adding AI to my “menu.”)
Some of the reasons below deserve a little more discussion. For today, I’ll just offer this list. These are all things I need to as a PM. Prototyping of all kinds helps me do it.
But it doesn't always know the whole story. And sometimes it doesn't give up its secrets easily.
Six months in, nothing to show, and the steering committee is asking uncomfortable questions. The Billing project is running out of time and the steering committee is running out of patience. Jordan's tightening grip only makes things worse while the ground shifts beneath Alex's career. Meanwhile, Terry quietly guides them to discover what they need to learn. In their work on The Billing Project Alex and Jordan re-discover the joy of being human, together.
The conference room felt smaller each month. The arms of Jordan's chair seemed somehow tighter as the steering committee circled back to the same concern. Billing project. Six months. Nothing to show. The executive sponsor's voice cut through stale air: “What's your plan to get this back on track?”
Terry listened as the monthly program review circled back to the same concern. Alex's project – six months in, nothing to show, timeline slipping. One executive wondered aloud whether they needed “different project leadership.” Terry had seen this pattern before: good people trapped in a broken approach, about to become casualties of their own system. “Give me two weeks to assess the situation,” Terry said. “Before we make personnel changes.”
Alex stared at the project status spreadsheet one more time, hoping the numbers might somehow rearrange themselves. Six months in, and still nothing users could actually touch. Just expanding work breakdown structures and revised estimates that kept pushing delivery further into next year. Another milestone had quietly slipped last week. Jordan had stepped in to exercise more “oversight.”
Every plan contains failure. Every intention contains a thousand futures.