Forty product leaders across two online sessions on how AI is reshaping product org design: the new bottleneck, the squad model, talent, and the quiet org changes underway.
On Wednesday 13 May 2026 Perpetuate hosted its Product Leaders Growth Forum, "Smaller Teams, Bigger Output: Designing the AI-Native Product Org". Forty product leaders (CPOs, VPs and Heads of Product from across Australia) joined online across two 45-minute sessions, at 12pm and 1pm. We added the second session because of demand.
AI is compressing execution, which forces a rethink of org design, roles and what "good" looks like. Since our last forum, on AI Ops in November 2025, execution has become faster and iteration cycles tighter, yet many teams still run on structures designed for a slower world. Our invitation asked the blunt versions: is the squad model still fit for purpose, are teams becoming pods, trios or individuals plus AI, and are operating models moving from cadence-first to problem-first?
If execution becomes quicker and cheaper, the bottleneck shifts upstream, from engineering execution towards judgement, problem clarity, prioritisation, customer understanding, positioning, quality and commercial decisioning: the classic outcome over output. Leaders also raised alignment, distribution, taste, trust and organisational clarity. In heavily regulated domains, the bottleneck is in legal and compliance.
No one has a new model down pat. Squads were optimised for coordination and software delivery bottlenecks, so if AI changes what each person can do, does the model still hold? Leaders are experimenting with smaller, more fluid AI-native pods and tighter PM, Design and Engineering collaboration. There was real debate about whether stable squads still make sense, and what happens as the three disciplines blur. One practical point: restructuring should follow getting the new workflows right, not lead it.
The market is increasingly rewarding critical thinkers with an AI-forward mindset: builders who can operate through ambiguity, make strong product bets, and use AI to amplify outcomes rather than simply speed up delivery. That mindset matters even at mid level. The super IC, an individual contributor expected to deliver the output of a larger team, is the figure behind that shift. PMs are moving from "information movers" to "judgement engines", and the T-shape is broadening rather than disappearing. The question put to the room: what are you now hiring for that you would not have prioritised 18 months ago?
Most companies are not announcing dramatic restructures, but expectations, team shapes, hiring profiles and cross-functional boundaries are already changing underneath. Changes the group described:
What's one belief you held about product orgs 18 months ago that you're now less confident about?
The closing question, which Sophia Philippou took to LinkedIn
I'm more bullish on the Product role than ever, but the "true" Product role. The best PMs are evaluators, paid for their judgement: commercial, thinking in bets, bringing clarity through ambiguity and making strong product decisions quickly.
Sophia's recap is on LinkedIn. A related talk on the same shift in Product talent is in the Brainmates write-up. To be considered for a future forum, message Sophia on LinkedIn →
Sophia Philippou is a Partner at Perpetuate, leads its Product practice, and hosts the Perpetuate Growth Series.