I’m reading a book right now about how to create tech products customers love, this book written by Marty Cagan is regarded as the holy bible of product managers and empowered product teams. I am halfway right now and come across a topic that got me thinking. It’s about an interesting trade off that leaders of companies need to deal with. As stated in the book “As is so often the case with product, things boil down to a trade off-in this case between the team’s autonomy and leverage of the foundation.” It states the power of team autonomy against the efficiency of a high-leverage company foundation. But with the rise of AI agents this trade off could be a problem of yesterday and the adaption of AI agents can even create a future where product teams can be both highly autonomous and still work together perfectly with the rest of the company.
Cagan states that the best product teams have a true sense of ownership. However the problem is that complete autonomy can lead to chaos. If every team chooses its own programming languages, tools, and design systems, the company loses the efficiency of a high-leverage company foundation. So company leaders are left with a trade-off: more autonomy for teams, or building a strong foundation.
I think here is where AI agents are going to be game changing. AI agents act as a “universal translator,” it can interpret and connect the work of different teams, even if they use completely different tools and technologies. Imagine an AI agent that can seamlessly bridge the gap between a team using Python and another using Java, translating code and data structures while communicating it. They reduce the need for a strict, strong foundation because of the common language that the AI agent creates between systems. The leverage that once came from standardization can now be achieved through intelligent, AI-powered integration.
The effects of implementing AI agents seem significant. By reducing the constraints of a strong foundation, companies can create huge amounts of autonomy for their teams. This fuels the motivation and ownership Cagan describes, leading to faster innovation. The teams will become powerful empowered product teams.
This doesn’t mean foundations will disappear, but their nature will evolve. Instead of a strict set of constraints, the foundation can become a flexible platform with AI agents acting as the intelligent glue. The trade off between autonomy and efficiency because of strong foundations has long been a difficult decision for company leaders, but with Agentic AI, we can finally have the best of both worlds.
Sources:
“Inspired” by Mart Cagan
A very insightful read! It’s an interesting concept the author of the book you’re reading has observed. I believe that AI solutions for these problems are already well under the making if not already launched. This post reminds me of the guest lecture we had about DevRev and how it’s built to bridge the gap between extensive workload and seamless integration ultimately to make room for creative ideas and innovation. Do you think that trade-offs will be gone for once and for all? I think it is also important to consider the aspect of ethical and privacy concerns. Perhaps too much reliance on an AI agent to diminish previously prevalent trade-offs could introduce new ones. Nonetheless, companies are already rushing nowadays to integrate their systems with AI so as to not be left behind. At the end of the day, everyone’s trying to not be obsolete. It boils down to upskilling not just the workforce but also the process itself.