Writing
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A PM's Guide to Building with LLMs, Part 3: Why You Need Good Evaluations.
LLM outputs don't have the same level of determinism that you find in traditional software engineering. Here's why it's important to be able to tell the good from the bad. Disclaimer: There will be code.
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Three AI Tools I'm Using on the Daily – And Happy to Pay For
Product teams are beginning to find the right use cases and user experiences for AI-driven tools. We're moving beyond the chatbot and ✨ menu towards integrated experiences. Here are three tools that are now part of my daily workflow.
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A PM's Guide to Building with LLMs, Part 2: Advanced Techniques.
Now that you have a basic setup, make it better for your own use case with data, pipelines, and feedback.
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A PM's Guide to Building with LLMs, Part 1: Basic Building Blocks.
Almost every product manager is being asked to be an 'AI Product Manager' these days. This series will get you started understanding what that means.
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On Velocity and Product Development
In DevX and product building, there's a huge focus on velocity of late. Here's my take.
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What AI Security Can Learn from Software Supply Chain Security
Calls are coming for AI to be regulated by the government. But what will that actually look like when it comes to AI in Cybersecurity? Recent developments in Software Supply Chain Security can help guide the path.
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Devising an AI Strategy for Your Business
Companies everywhere are scrambling to decide how AI is going to impact their business. Here's how to approach it in a systematic way.
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The New AI: Early Learning Journey
Like many of you, I'm taking the plunge. Two weeks in, here are my early learnings on applying LLMs to real world problems.
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On AI as Your New Editor
Creatives and creators are both thrilled and terrified about what the new generation of AIs can do. Here's how I'm leveraging them to help my writing.
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Growth at Early-Stage Startups: A Primer
As a Growth practitioner in a startup, your job changes a lot. Here's what to focus on as an early stage company thinking about PLG.
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How To Do Pricing Research
The Art of Pricing Your B2B SaaS Product: Three Tools for Developing a Winning Strategy.
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Wallace Stevens was an insurance executive
Remember that 'What You Do' and 'Who You Are' are not inextricably linked now and forever. And why you should take a walk to think about it.
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Bringing a New Product to Market
Much of product management training is about the product development process, but not as much time is spent on the fundamentals of actually launching that product successfully. For new PMs, here's what you need to know about launching your first product successfully.
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Python for Product Managers
Are you a PM wondering if you should learn to code? Python is a great choice as a first language and has the versatility to aid you in a lot of PM duties, whether you are more of the test-and-learn data cruncher or looking for the next great user experience.
Notes
ProductCodes Discord
Our Discord is live. Are you a product (or product-orientated) person who loves technology? Join other like-minded folks in our Discord. It's a friendly, collaborative, and respectful place to learn.
Read MoreDennen Group Lives
Well, I've done it. The shingle is up for consulting and I'm now my own boss. I've incorporated an LLC (the Dennen Group) and am focused just on AI Product and Growth consulting. Website coming soon, but give us a follow in the meantime.
Read MoreNew Chapter
I have a big life update coming soon — excited for the next chapter. It will mean, I hope, more time to write and explore. Stay tuned for updates.
GitHub Universe
Find me at GitHub Universe this week! My first time going — sad to be missing KubeCon, but excited to meet with the GitHub eco-system. Shoot me a DM if you want to meet up and talk AI Product Development.
Read MoreAI Pioneers Event in SF
Got to attend the @DecibelVC AI Pioneers event this week in San Francisco. To quote Jim Fan of NVIDIA, the "total IQ of this room is through the roof." So many smart people there; it was inspiring to and humbling at the same time. As Decibel founder Jon Sakoda said: "We're still in the early innings with Generative AI."
Read MoreSummer Hiatus
It was a busy summer for our family with lots of moving about. But it also gave me some time to reset a bit, generate a big list of new ideas for things to write about, and continue experimenting with new AI tools and techniques. Stay tuned for more.
On Velocity and Product Development
En route to Black Hat in Vegas and catching up on the Little League World Series on the plane. Caught Lenny's interview of Geoff Charles at Ramp ("Velocity over everything"), where he talks about how Ramp built a billion dollar business by optimizing for speed. It reminded me of some advice I got as a younger pitcher: Velocity brings accuracy. Recommended listen. Related article to come.
Read MoreOpen Source for LLMs
Meta open-sources OpenLLaMa in an interesting strategic move. Feels very similar to Google open sourcing Kubernetes. That said, I don't know if it's the immediate OpenAI wrecker social media pundits are making it out to be. Setting up a local LLM (even if open sourced) isn't trivial and much more tooling will be needed to make this approach viable. OpenAI's APIs combined with LangChain is a dead simple developer experience, and developer velocity matters, especially in well-funded markets like AI. Still, it is good to see open source principles and projects shaping AI's future.
Read MoreModels, models, everywhere
Finally at a place in my product development where I'm branching out into new LLM models. My initial take is that OpenAI has the best thought-out DevX from a builder perspective. But perhaps Anthropic will close the gap with the interest in Claude 2.
AWS Summit DC
I'm at the AWS Summit in DC (my old stomping grounds!) this week. Much more skepticism of AI among the Federal Security set than I heard at RSA in San Francisco last month. Are we just realizing more of the limitations of LLMs, or are the costs of hallucination mistake just that higher in military-grade cybersecurity?
AI and Consciousness
Connecting AI to philosophy, podcaster Steven West asks some deep questions about whether AGI can be truly conscious or whether we are just seeing ourselves reflected in this new tech.
Read MoreAI's Role
AI will be table stakes at Enterprises going forward, writes Ed Sim in his excellent "What's Hot" newsletter. Questions I've been asking myself this weekend: 1) How? 2) Will it also be a viable startup business? We're so early in the evolution of AI, there's a lot left to figure out.
Read MoreSite Relaunched
I'm really excited about the new site design! I need to thank my wonderful designer, Kathy B., for the awesome logos, font combos, and UX. And also ChatGPT's GPT-4 with Browser plugin, without whom all this code would have taken me ages.
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