https://appliedcraft.blog Opinionated analysis of how AI changes the way products are built, decisions are made, and value is created. en https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/build-the-apparatus-before-you-build-the-application.html https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/build-the-apparatus-before-you-build-the-application.html Sun, 10 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT The cost of building applications has collapsed. Almost every product leader is using that unlock to ship another app. There is a different, much larger unlock sitting next to it, and almost nobody is touching it. https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/creativity-three-components.html https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/creativity-three-components.html Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT Three things, all trainable. The weakest one caps your output. You are almost certainly investing in the wrong one. https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/the-taste-loop.html https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/the-taste-loop.html Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT Nine steps in three triads. Each one is a distinct mental action you can train. The hard part isn't the steps, it's clearing your own instrument. https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/your-intuition-isn-t-unfinished-analysis-it-s-a-different-kind-of-knowing.html https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/your-intuition-isn-t-unfinished-analysis-it-s-a-different-kind-of-knowing.html Sun, 29 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT There's a third mode of knowing. It's not analysis, not creativity, and it might be the one thing that can't be automated. https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/the-ai-judgment-trap-why-getting-better-at-ai-is-making-you-worse-at-product.html https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/the-ai-judgment-trap-why-getting-better-at-ai-is-making-you-worse-at-product.html Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT AI won't take your PM job. But it might prevent you from ever learning to do it well. https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/why-your-ai-outputs-are-mediocre-you-never-defined-good.html https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/why-your-ai-outputs-are-mediocre-you-never-defined-good.html Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT Most AI quality advice sells you the floor and calls it the ceiling. https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/everyone-says-human-skills-will-matter-they-re-right-about-one-of-them.html https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/everyone-says-human-skills-will-matter-they-re-right-about-one-of-them.html Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT The AI-proof skills list everyone cites is six items long. Five of them are wrong. https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/your-pm-job-is-six-jobs-you-re-offloading-the-wrong-half.html https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/your-pm-job-is-six-jobs-you-re-offloading-the-wrong-half.html Sun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT The mechanical half of every PM skill is now free. The judgment half is now exposed. https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/the-pm-skills-map-redrawn-for-ai.html https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/the-pm-skills-map-redrawn-for-ai.html Sun, 18 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT The four senses haven't changed. What counts within each one has. https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/you-re-not-leveraging-ai-you-re-leveraging-a-fast-typewriter.html https://appliedcraft.blog/posts/you-re-not-leveraging-ai-you-re-leveraging-a-fast-typewriter.html Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT And the distinction matters far more than you think.