I’ve been reflecting on some thoughtful feedback about Product as Code and structured product management approaches. A common concern I hear? “This creates friction and pulls us away from users.”

But here’s the thing: a sharper knife doesn’t make a chef less connected to their diners - it makes them more effective at serving them.

The Dull Knife Problem

Right now, product teams are cooking with dull knives. Context scattered across multiple tools, AI assistants flying blind, developers building features without understanding the “why” behind user needs.

The friction isn’t coming from better tooling - it’s already there, hiding in:

• Stale requirements buried in Jira tickets
• Critical context lost in Slack threads
• Tribal knowledge that walks out the door with team members
• AI coding tools that can’t access product reasoning

Better Tools, Not More Distance

The idea for Product as Code isn’t about forcing PMs to write YAML or moving collaboration into Git. It’s about creating living documentation that evolves with your product decisions — accessible to both humans AND the AI tools already in our workflows.

The goal isn’t to replace human judgment or user empathy. It’s to amplify them by ensuring product knowledge flows seamlessly to where it’s needed most.

Better tools don’t distance you from your craft — they elevate it.