Introduction

As I’ve moved up in my career, balancing my passion for building with my day-to-day responsibilities has become increasingly challenging. I spend most of my time on strategy, ensuring my team understands why we’re here and what we need to achieve. This shift has meant that the hands-on technical work, the kind that first drew me to this field, often takes a backseat. Managing the “why” and the “what” is fulfilling in its own way, but it’s distinctly different from the process of actually building something from scratch. Over time, I had come to accept that my personal passion projects and proof-of-concepts might just have to wait while I focused on work-life balance.

But then, Generative AI came along and changed everything.

With the rise of tools like ChatGPT, the time required to go from idea to working prototype has dropped dramatically. I find myself able to create complex, interactive applications quickly, often without writing a single line of code. It’s as if I’ve gained a whole new teammate—one who understands my vision, executes on my high-level requirements, and allows me to leverage my strengths as a VP accustomed to defining the big picture.

In this new world, I can be a Product Manager and visionary without sacrificing the joy of building. Instead of spending hours learning new frameworks or struggling with design details, I can guide AI through the process, focusing on what I do best: defining the why and the what. And I get to see my projects come to life in a way that feels both thrilling and deeply satisfying. It’s a wonderful world where my skills, honed over years of strategic thinking, can finally meet my passion for hands-on creation.

Generative AI Saves Time and Bridges Multiple Skills

Creating a functional, polished web application typically involves a lot of people and a lot of time. In my recent project, building a travel itinerary visualizer with ChatGPT, I discovered how dramatically AI could reduce that burden—acting as a developer, designer, architect, and even a sounding board, all in one.

In a traditional setup, building this app would have meant multiple specialists and weeks of work. As a Product Manager, I would start by defining the requirements and working closely with a frontend developer to build the interactive components, like the map and calendar. I’d need a UI designer to make it visually appealing, a software architect to handle the structural foundation, and plenty of coordination to ensure all these pieces came together seamlessly.

Each role would come with both time and financial costs. Developers would need days or weeks to code the map and calendar, integrate libraries, and ensure a smooth user experience. A designer would create the layouts, color schemes, and typography, ensuring the app looked clean and professional. And finally, I’d be there throughout, constantly aligning the team with the project’s “why” and “what” and offering feedback along the way.

Using tools like Tableau or Power BI might have handled parts of this process, but with limitations. Visualization tools could create static maps or dashboards, but they don’t offer the flexibility to build fully interactive, user-friendly web apps without extensive customization. Even no-code platforms like Webflow or Bubble would struggle to handle custom features, such as the dynamic, color-coded calendar linked to map markers. And if I relied solely on these tools, I’d still need a developer to piece it all together into something cohesive.

How ChatGPT's Brought the Skills of a Full Development Team

Enter ChatGPT, and everything changes. Instead of working with a whole team, I found myself working with a single AI assistant that could understand and execute on my high-level requirements. Here’s how it tackled each role: • Developer: ChatGPT took care of all the coding, using Leaflet.js to create an interactive map with color-coded markers and labels. It built the calendar dynamically based on my data, linking it to the map and adding tooltips and stop numbers—all based on simple requests like “add a marker” or “use color coding.” • UI Designer: With my instructions to “use a modern font” or “add subtle shadows,” ChatGPT crafted a clean, professional design that required no further touch-ups. What might have been days of design iterations became a matter of minutes, with every visual change handled directly in HTML and CSS. • Architect: ChatGPT structured the code logically, integrating JavaScript, HTML, and CSS smoothly and modularly. I didn’t have to worry about choosing libraries or setting up frameworks; ChatGPT took care of everything under the hood, leaving me to focus on the end result. • Sounding Board: Surprisingly, ChatGPT also served as a collaborative partner, offering suggestions that shaped the final product. With questions like “How can I make the calendar more user-friendly?” I received suggestions that would typically come from brainstorming sessions with a team.

This collaborative experience took less than a day from start to finish. Instead of managing multiple handoffs or wrangling tools that only do part of the job, I iterated directly with ChatGPT. A few hours of prompting and feedback replaced what could have been weeks of traditional development time.

How Generative AI is Helping Me Reclaim My Passion Projects

As I’ve moved into more senior roles, my time to build things has gradually faded. Day-to-day, I’m focused on strategy, aligning my team with our goals, and ensuring everyone understands the why and the what behind our work. It’s meaningful, but it leaves little room for the hands-on building that once fueled my career. And when I did find a moment to start a passion project—something experimental or just for fun—it often felt like a lost cause. I’d get partway in, realize I’d need skills I hadn’t practiced in years, or hit a wall with design polish, and the project would stall.

But now, Generative AI is changing that equation. With ChatGPT, I’ve found myself dusting off old projects and building proof-of-concepts I might otherwise have set aside. By describing high-level ideas, defining the features I want, and refining with iterative feedback, I can go from concept to completion without writing code. It feels almost like having an extra teammate—one that steps in wherever I need it, whether it’s coding, UI design, or even suggesting improvements.

One recent project—a travel itinerary visualizer—showed me just how powerful this approach could be. Normally, this would have required a handful of roles: developer, designer, maybe even a data specialist. I would need tools like Leaflet for maps, perhaps Figma for mockups, and a lot of time spent switching between them. But with ChatGPT, I only needed to describe the features I wanted, like an interactive map with color-coded markers or a calendar linked to those markers. ChatGPT handled the code, made design adjustments, and iterated with me, quickly turning my high-level ideas into a functional web app.

It didn’t just save me time; it gave me back the joy of creating something from scratch. I’m not saying it replaced a whole team or that every element was perfect right away—there were plenty of feedback loops to refine things. But it removed enough friction that building felt accessible again, allowing me to bring in the skills I already have as a product leader and lean on AI where I lack expertise.

This experience got me thinking: What happens when more people can do this? AI doesn’t magically turn everyone into a software developer, designer, or architect, but it does blur the lines between these roles. It fills in gaps where you lack skills, while allowing you to bring your own strengths to the table. For me, it means I get to be the product manager I’ve become, focusing on the vision and strategy, while AI supports me in realizing that vision directly.

In the future, I can see this becoming transformative not just for people like me but for teams across industries. Everyone could leverage AI to handle areas outside their expertise, bringing their own unique context and knowledge to drive the project. It’s exciting to think that anyone—whether they’re a designer, a product manager, or a developer—could take an idea and see it through to a tangible outcome, thanks to tools like ChatGPT.

Generative AI won’t replace the nuanced skills and creativity that different specialists bring, but it’s starting to shift what’s possible. For me, it means rediscovering the joy of building things. And for others, it could mean fewer boundaries between ideas and execution, allowing each person to create in ways that were once out of reach.