Role convergence doesn’t mean role elimination

Role convergence doesn’t mean role elimination. I think the boundaries and expectations around our contributions are evolving.

I’m not an engineer, and I’ve been using agents to do things like understand codebases and prototype interactive concepts and interfaces. I’ve seen this accelerate dialogue and give early conversations a more meaningful grounding.

As a more specific example, outside work, I’ve set up a personal MCP server based on an open source pattern. That’s something I can only do with a capable coding agent.

The perspectives here have me thinking about how teams adapt while specialist expertise continues to matter.

Where are you seeing this convergence, and how are expectations changing?

Role convergence AI is broadening what people can contribute across product, design, and engineering
  • The investor Marc Andreessen Co-founder
    Andreessen Horowitz
    “The job persists longer than the individual tasks.”
    “You become a super relevant specialist in the combination of the domains.” 1
  • The builder Boris Cherny Creator & Head of Claude Code
    Anthropic

    On his team, a designer can implement interface changes directly, without asking an engineer to make each adjustment. 2

  • The operator Sal Khan Founder & CEO
    Khan Academy

    Khan Academy lets designers and PMs propose code changes, primarily for prototypes and proofs of concept. 3

  • The product coach Marty Cagan Founder, Partner – Product
    Silicon Valley Product Group
    “Most serious products will need a range of skillsets, even with very talented people using the best tools.” 4
  • The researcher Ethan Mollick Professor, The Wharton School
    University of Pennsylvania

    In a P&G experiment with 791 professionals, AI helped participants work beyond their usual functional focus. 5

  • The product leader Nate B Jones AI analyst, former Head of Product
    Amazon Prime Video
    “The top of the [PM’s] funnel used to be words […] but now it’s got working tools and dashboards and automations and agents.” 6
  1. Andreessen, Lenny’s Podcast, Jan 2026
  2. Cherny, Bloomberg Odd Lots, Jul 2026
  3. Khan, Silicon Valley Girl, Jul 2026
  4. Cagan, “The Era of the Product Creator,” May 2025
  5. Dell’Acqua et al., “The Cybernetic Teammate,” Jun 2026
  6. Jones, “Product Management After Software Becomes Cheap,” May 2026

Evidence 2, 3 and 5 is paraphrased. 1, 4 and 6 are quotations.

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