Coaching The Future of Product and Engineering with AI

Christian Idiodi sits down with Mike Fisher, CEO of MyFitnessPal and former CTO of Etsy, to make the counterintuitive case on AI and technical work. The common assumption is that if AI makes engineers, designers, and product teams more efficient, companies will simply need fewer of them. Mike argues the opposite: when technology makes work cheaper and easier, the world tends to demand more of it, not less. They get practical about what actually changes for product and engineering leaders, what stays stubbornly human, and how to lead well through the shift.–Today's discussion unpacks:Why making technical work cheaper expands the field instead of shrinking itWhat radiology's last decade predicts for engineers and product teamsThe "one-pizza team" and how agentic coding changes team sizeWhy product judgment and leadership get more valuable, not lessThe new costs and roles AI creates, from token budgets to FinOps-style optimizationWhat stays stubbornly human when agents do the building–References:Amazon Two Pizza Teams: https://aws.amazon.com/executive-insights/content/amazon-two-pizza-team/Geoffrey Hinton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_HintonJevons paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradoxThe 1-employee billion dollar startup: https://www.inc.com/leila-sheridan/the-no-employee-billion-dollar-startup-how-ai-is-changing-the-face-of-solopreneurship/91326517"More Efficiency, More Demand" by Mike Fisher: https://mikefisher.substack.com/p/more-efficiency-more-demandNVIDIA: https://www.nvidia.com/–SVPG on AI:Build to Learn vs Build to Earn: https://www.svpg.com/build-to-learn-vs-build-to-earn/INSPIRED in the Generative AI Era: https://www.svpg.com/inspired-in-the-generative-ai-era/Product, Design and AI: https://www.svpg.com/product-design-and-ai/Product in the AI Era: https://www.svpg.com/product-in-the-ai-era/Team Autonomy and AI: https://www.svpg.com/team-autonomy-and-ai/–Where to find Mike Fisher:Newsletter: https://mikefisher.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-fisher-3317a8/MyFitnessPal: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/–Where to find Christian Idiodi:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cidiodi/SVPG profile: https://www.svpg.com/team/christian-idiodi/–Where to find SVPG:SVPG's newest book, TRANSFORMED: https://www.svpg.com/books/transformed/Other books: https://www.svpg.com/books/Articles: https://www.svpg.com/articles/Workshops: https://www.svpg.com/Videos: https://www.svpg.com/videos/–Timestamps:00:00 Introduction01:34 Why efficiency creates more demand, not less06:33 Radiologists grew 17% after AI was meant to replace them10:10 Will agentic coding shrink teams to "one pizza"?11:12 The flight is five minutes, but the airport traffic remains13:13 Cheaper software, higher expectations, and hyper-personalization15:30 Why product judgment matters more, not less17:13 Do product, design, and engineering blend into "builders