Context
Product teams are expected to move quickly.
But research, reading, synthesis and requirements writing can consume a surprising amount of time before the team even reaches the decision that matters.
What I Changed
AI skills were already becoming widely available.
My focus wasn't inventing the underlying technology. It was figuring out how to make it genuinely useful in our Product workflow.
I adopted AI-assisted approaches for:
Research PRD preparation Architecture and dependency studies Reading and synthesis Repetitive requirements work
Outcome
Requirements turnaround reduced by approximately 70%, based on the man-hours previously needed compared with the AI-assisted workflow.
The approach was adopted across the team.
That meant less time spent on repetitive research and writing, and more time available for judgement, alignment and decision-making.
Learning
Knowing how to use an AI tool isn't the interesting part.
The value comes from understanding which work can be accelerated without outsourcing the judgement that actually matters.