The Big AI Distraction

I’m raising a red flag.

(What you’re about to read apparently hit a nerve on LinkedIn, receiving 120,000 views, 1,376 likes and 73 reposts.)

98% of my LinkedIn feed in 2025 is chatter about AI. Where to use it; how much; replace humans or assist them; worth the investment or not; use vibe-coding or not.

Meanwhile, the fundamentals of software product development haven’t changed.

Stuff that was missing, broken, or messy 5-, 10- and 15-years ago is still in that state:

Product strategy
Evidence-based decision-making
Solving users’ problems
Quality
Solid business model
Alignment
Proper software engineering
Maintainable code
Effective life cycle management
Humane work environment
Trust
Engagement
Adaptability

You still need these fundamentals. You can’t delegate them to AI, no matter how convincingly it “speaks” to you. If those fundamentals are lacking, you’ll just do the wrong things faster and rack up debt quicker.

We should continue to talk about AI’s role and power, but we can’t let that distract us from everything we’ve learned about good product development.