TL; DR: Irreplaceable Skills — Food for Agile Thought #524

🎄 Peaceful holidays and welcome to the 524th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 35,792 peers.

This week, Max Berry warns that AI is squeezing entry-level file work and forcing people to compete on accountable judgment, listing irreplaceable skills in the age of AI, while Stephen Dowling shows how Steve Sasson invented digital photography at Kodak long before the market could use it. John Cutler builds on that gap between idea and reality by separating operating model patterns from the operating system teams must actually design. Esther Derby adds that hierarchy blocks candor until risks grow teeth, and Simon Powers argues that change fails when tone and power stay untouched. Natalia Quintero ties it back to AI: teams stall without clear workflows and local champions.

Next, Theo Bleier shows how he lived inside Notion sales workflows, removed copy-paste friction, then used product signals to improve account prioritization with humans in the loop. Tomasz Tunguz spots AI deflation as Gemini 3 Flash cuts costs while staying close to benchmarks, and Michael Wall treats ChatGPT Pro as a first hire to ship software and run his music business. Also, Chris Matts warns that DORA metrics backfire when executives weaponize them, and Shreyas Doshi rejects slogans and pushes situational judgment.

Then, Peter Hunter and Elena Stojmilova show how Open GI escaped a monolith by decentralizing architecture with Team Topologies, a DDD context map, ADRs, and an open advisory forum. Ianemmanuel Crueldad pushes back on agentic AI when deterministic automation works better and fails less, while Emma Webster favors high-fidelity prototypes over PRDs to align and validate fast. Lizzie Matusov links daily stand-ups to psychological safety and performance. Finally, Austin Tedesco uses AI to compress planning through shared context and iterative drafts.

📅 Programming Note: Food for Agile Thought #525 will be available on January 4, 2026.

TL; DR: Quo Vadis, AI? — Food for Agile Thought #522

Welcome to the 522nd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 35,812 peers. This week, Gary Marcus questions the viability of large language models, citing unresolved flaws such as hallucinations and weak reasoning — Quo Vadis AI? Teresa Torres and Petra Wille reflect on AI’s role in user interviews, warning that tech cannot replace skilled human insight, while Peter Yang sees the PM role in AI-native firms shifting toward builders who align quickly. Also, OpenRouter’s massive token data analysis reveals rising agentic use and open models, and Willem-Jan Ageling dissects why many corporate transformations still stall.

Next, Dave Baines urges product managers to stop hiding technical work and instead align it through transparency and joint prioritization. Chris Jones and Marty Cagan remind stakeholders that their job is not to demand features but to enable outcome-driven problem solving. Saffron Huang’s team finds Claude changes engineering workflows at Anthropic and raises career questions. Also, Teresa Torres shares 50 AI use cases from her own process, and Eric Barker recommends strategy over emotion when dealing with difficult coworkers.

Then, Jing Hu questions the true ROI of AI investments, citing McKinsey data showing limited gains and weak agent adoption. Mike Brock calls AGI from LLMs a flawed idea dressed as progress. Mike Fisher warns that chasing velocity without slack leads to chaos, Martin Eriksson urges teams to simplify decisions through focus and consent, and Andi Roberts challenges Tuckman’s model. Finally, John Cutler explains why tools fail when they don’t tackle underlying behavioral constraints.