[datadrivenangel]

I partially disagree for two reasons:

1. Code is absolutely cheap, but good, correct, non-vulnerable code is much cheaper than it was a few years ago but is still not free, especially in a large application.

2. Requirements management is less important when the cost of software is lower because iteration is cheaper, but bad customer communication can absolutely result in negatively useful software, and there is a skill to understanding what people want and need that takes a lot of time to use well, so in many cases a product manager can still help do useful work... most won't though.

[bushido]

That's partly the harness for me. I do believe product managers are still important, but they're important in deciding what gets shipped, not what gets built.

Engineers are still important. They're important in building the harness to ensure that anything which is being built/shipped is of sufficient quality.

In my opinion, testing/QA/etc is now the core product.

But the best code that you'll get is literally connecting to the pain point the customer was saying to the agentic workflow that is building your product.

Bad customer communication in my experience is the result of every person who handled the convo pre-engineers posturing the message trying to make sure the next person is motivated to get it to the next gatekeeper.

This is all very biased based on my own workflow though.