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AI can be a powerful teammate, but only if we give it the right context. In this episode of All Things Product, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille unpack why “context is king” when it comes to using AI in product work. They share practical ways product leaders can start preparing today—from keeping decision logs to designing machine-readable context—so their teams are ready to collaborate effectively with AI tomorrow.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- Why most AI outputs fail without proper context
- How to think of AI like onboarding a new intern (and why that matters)
- Practical first steps for product leaders: decision logs, success metrics, and structured documentation
- How to balance giving AI enough context without overloading it
- The parallels between giving context to teams and to AI systems
Key Takeaways
- AI needs more context than you think. Treat it like a new teammate who doesn’t know your company history, industry, or strategy.
- Start small now. Even if your org isn’t adopting AI yet, you can prepare by documenting decisions, goals, and guardrails in machine-readable ways.
- Not all context is helpful. More isn’t always better—focus on giving AI the minimum effective context to perform well.
- Leaders already do this. The same way you create strategic context for your teams, you’ll need to do it for AI agents.
Resources & Links:
- Follow Teresa Torres: https://ProductTalk.org
- Follow Petra Wille: https://Petra-Wille.com
Mentioned in the episode:
- Agentic AI
- Teresa’s new podcast, Just Now Possible in Youtube, Apple Podcast, and Spotify
- Petra’s Coaching Packages
- ChatGPT
- Henrik Kniberg’s talk at Product at Heart on treating AI agents like interns
- Teresa’s webinars on how she built the Product Talk Interview Coach: Behind the Scenes: Building the Product Talk Interview Coach and How I Designed & Implemented Evals for Product Talk’s Interview Coach
- Josh Seiden’s blog series about AI
- Teresa’s new blog posts: 15 Ways to Use AI at Home (and Fill Your AI Product Toolbox) and 21 Ways to Use AI at Work (And Build Your AI Product Toolbox)
- Petra’s new blog post: Why Context, Not Just Data, Will Define AI-Ready Product Teams
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