What 100 Product Leaders Told Us About Strategy, AI, and the New Product Org
Strategy, not just speed, will define the next era of product leadership.
AI is no longer a curiosity, it’s a mandate. To understand how product teams are responding, we surveyed 100 product leaders from companies with 500+ employees across industries. Their answers show that as AI takes center stage, the pressure to sharpen strategy, evolve team structures, and build the right things faster is only growing.
Only 1% of product leaders said that AI is not a current priority (figure 1). Budgets are reflecting that urgency: 70% are investing in AI/ML capabilities, 59% are focused on improving core product reliability, and 49% are launching new product lines (figure 2).
Figure 1:
Figure 2:
The message is clear: AI isn’t replacing priorities. It’s raising the bar for what product teams need to own. Here’s what we learned…
75% say PM will be defined by deeper AI/data fluency
And the product leader’s role is expanding. Fast.
The shift to AI is putting product leaders at the center of business transformation. 75% of leaders say deeper AI and data fluency will define the next evolution of product management, while 55% expect product teams to take more ownership over strategy and business outcomes.
This evolution is already underway. Almost 60% of product leaders say that one of the main ways their role has changed in the last two to three years is that they're now expected to lead AI-related initiatives. Simultaneously, just under half are being asked to do more with fewer resources. Perhaps most importantly, 43% are now held more accountable for business outcomes and revenue.
It’s no longer enough for product teams to deliver features. They’re being asked to deliver outcomes. And that requires a mindset shift—from execution to strategic ownership.
57% say headcount is flat
PMs must evolve so teams can scale.
In the face of rising expectations, most product orgs aren’t growing. 57% of leaders reported flat headcount, and only 25% are seeing modest growth. Rather than adding more people, leaders are focusing on evolving the people they have.
To meet the moment, 76% of leaders say strategic foresight is the most critical skill for PMs in the age of AI. Over half say storytelling and stakeholder alignment are non-negotiable skills. With about one in two leaders emphasizing the importance of experimentation and learning velocity, and prompt engineering and fluency in AI tools.
To get there, 75% are actively upskilling their teams in AI or data tools, 47% are revisiting PM role definitions, and 44% are forging closer partnerships across departments.
The result? A new kind of product team—leaner, smarter, and ready to make bold bets with cross-functional support in an AI-native environment.
60% are strengthening cross-functional relationships
AI readiness starts with org clarity.
Technology isn’t the only thing that needs to change. AI-readiness demands org-readiness. 60% of product leaders said they’re focused on strengthening cross-functional relationships as a key lever for evolution. That’s followed closely by embedding AI-readiness into the org structure (52%), clarifying roles and responsibilities (48%), and defining a new product operating model (45%).
These changes aren’t just reactive. They’re part of a coordinated effort to align teams, reduce friction, and create clarity in how decisions are made and executed.
Again, the same tactics show up here: upskilling (75%), redefining roles (47%), and breaking down silos (44%). It’s clear that AI transformation requires more than new tooling. It takes cross-functional alignment and shared accountability.
44% say customer feedback drives strategy, but 38% say it’s revenue
Strategic tension is shaping product decisions.
As product leaders take on more responsibility, the forces shaping product direction are becoming more complex. According to the data, 44% of leaders say customer feedback and behavior are the most influential factors in product direction, just a few percentage points ahead of financial goals and revenue pressure (38%). Meanwhile, 54% rank the vision from the product team itself as the next most important influence, followed closely by executive direction itself (50%).
The tension is clear: product leaders are constantly weighing what customers want against what the business needs. And increasingly, they’re also asked to lead that reconciliation, making calls on trade-offs, balancing growth and stability, and aligning execution with vision.
In the AI era, speed and technical proficiency are no longer differentiators, they’re the baseline. What separates product teams that thrive from those that struggle is strategy: the ability to build the right things for their customers, better and faster than anyone else.
The power of centralized data
In a landscape shaped by higher expectations, evolving roles, and tighter resources, the key to winning isn’t just talent or tooling. It’s clarity.
Clarity of customer needs. Clarity of business goals. Clarity of priorities, roles, and timelines. That kind of clarity only happens when product teams operate from a shared source of truth.
The most future-ready product organizations are the ones already preparing their data for AI. Centralized, structured product data doesn’t just enable smarter decisions today, it becomes the foundation for more powerful, AI-augmented decisions tomorrow. When your data is connected and contextualized, your strategy gets sharper. Your roadmaps get smarter. And your org becomes more resilient.
Productboard helps product leaders meet this moment by centralizing customer feedback, aligning initiatives to business outcomes, and enabling smarter decisions at every stage of the product lifecycle.
Take a tour of Productboard and explore how a centralized platform supports strategic product teams in the age of AI.
