Coaching for product leaders and PMs

Your team has AI. Does it build any differently?

I coach product leaders who are rebuilding how their teams make software around agents, and the PMs who want to work in those teams. Let's start with a 30-minute intro call.

Book a 30-minute discovery call How I think about it
Chris Nicol VP of Product, Xelix Coaching since 2020 20 years in B2B SaaS

The AI-native PDLC

Idea to value, with people and agents.

Agent loop Human gate
Roadmap Define shape · design · validate Customers READY FOR BUILD Build plan · build · verify Harness · skills PRODUCTION Launch enable · adopt VALUE Measured against criteria

What changes

Most teams are adding AI to the process they already have.

All that creates is incremental gains. Keep the handoffs, the long discovery cycles and everything else that comes with the existing process, and incremental is all you will ever see. A step change requires you to rethink how you build software, starting with who defines the work and where agents take over from people.

Four big changes

Before
AI-native
Work passes from product to design to engineering in handoffs.
People decide at the gates. Agents loop between them until the checks pass.
Two-pizza squads, or bigger, build one thing at a time.
One person defines the work. One or two people work with the agents that build it.
PMs write PRDs for engineers.
Agents create the spec and intent from many inputs. PMs verify it before work goes into the build loop.
Success means it shipped.
Success means it met criteria set before the build. If it didn't after two iterations, it gets killed.

Who I work with

Product leaders changing how their team builds, and PMs retraining to thrive in an AI-native PDLC.

Product leaders

Take your team AI-native

Your team already uses AI. Has it changed how they work? Adopting the tools is the easy part. The step change is in how your team thinks about the work, how it is structured, and the tooling and process it runs on. It also changes how product works with design and engineering.

We work on

Where your process and team are today

Where the biggest challenges are

A strategy for your new operating model, your workforce model and the harness layer that supports them

A team structure built around agents, with the agents, skills and evals it needs

Product managers

Thrive as a PM in an AI-native world

Agents can now draft the spec and write the code, and many of the PMs I coach are asking where that leaves them. The role is changing. The good news is that what makes you a great PM isn't. The new way of working can be learned, and coaching gets you to the point where you work in it with confidence, faster.

We work on

Which of your skills carry over, and where the gaps are

Defining work precisely enough for agents to build it

Verifying what agents produce before it goes into the build loop

A reskilling plan you work through between sessions

Ways to work together

Three ways to start.

On our first call we define what success looks like for you, and the sessions you need to get there.

1:1 coaching

For product leaders taking a team AI-native and PMs moving into AI-native roles, with Slack between sessions.

Every 2 to 4 weeks

Workshop: AI-native PDLC

Your product, design and engineering leads map the lifecycle you run today. Then we design the one you run next quarter.

Half or full day

Advisory

Regular sessions for leaders mid-transformation, plus a review of each decision that is hard to reverse.

Three months minimum

How it works

We start by naming what's in the way.

Most leaders already know what should change. The useful question is what has stopped it happening so far, and that is where the first session goes. Then we agree one outcome and how we'll know we got there.

  1. 01

    Discovery call

    30 minutes on where you are and what is blocking the change.

  2. 02

    Set the objective

    One outcome, one leading indicator and a date we check it.

  3. 03

    Sessions

    Sessions are for decisions. The change happens in your team between them.

  4. 04

    Check the indicator

    If it hasn't moved after two cycles, we change the plan.

About

I'm Chris, VP of Product at Xelix.

Xelix is an AI platform for enterprise accounts payable teams, with agents doing the invoice processing. I lead product and design, and we build with an AI-native process where agent loops run in the cloud and people sit at the gates. Sessions draw on what works there.

VP of Product, Xelix2024 to now
VP of Product, Hubble2023
Head of Product, Omnipresent2021 to 2023
Group Product Manager, 15Five2019 to 2021
Coaching PMs and product leadersSince 2020

20 years in B2B SaaS. More than 30 PMs and designers hired and managed. Based in London, with sessions by video.

What clients say

Rated 5.0 across 28 client reviews.

"A genuinely game-changing AI product management mentor."
Ryan, Product Manager · Coached for 7 months
"My ultimate goal for the mentorship was getting to a destination quicker and I have done that."
Angelina, Senior Product Manager · Coached for 9 months

Questions

Before you book

Is this about AI tools?
Rarely. Tools change every month. We work on how your team defines and checks work, using the tools you already pay for.
Who is it for?
Heads of product, directors, VPs and CPOs, plus PMs who want to join an AI-native team.
How long does it run?
1:1 coaching usually runs three to six months. A workshop is a half or full day, and advisory starts at three months.
Can my company pay?
Yes. I invoice companies directly.
What does it cost?
It depends on scope. You'll have a price before you commit to anything.

Start with 30 minutes.

Discovery call

30 minutes, free

Video call No commitment
Choose a time

Before the call

Pick one feature that took longer than it should have. Why did it?