The biggest threshold for AI product development is not technology, but speaking clearly.

Last night, I was invited to participate in Mr. Giga’s “AI Product Development Workflow (opens in a new tab)” live lecture. Halfway through the live broadcast, I suddenly realized one thing: the real difficulty in Vibe Coding may not be the technology, but that people can’t tell what they want?

At the beginning, Teacher Giga asked everyone which step they usually get stuck on. The answers were very scattered: the idea was unclear, A was changed and B was broken, and I don’t know how to accept it? He said that these answers are different on the surface, but actually reflect the same thing: it is difficult to make products with AI, not because the models are not good enough, but because the requirements and planning do not form a complete workflow.

When I heard this sentence, what came to my mind was not any Vibe Coding skills, but my old profession as a columnist and corporate lecturer over the years. I thought I was far away from writing programs in my life, but after listening to it, I realized that I had been practicing this for a long time.

PRD is not exclusive to product managers, it is the ability to speak clearly.

Later, I was called upon by Teacher Giga to talk about PRD, which gave me a strange feeling. Because I used to be a product manager and know PRD very well, but most people in the workplace do not have related backgrounds. What should I do?

In fact, it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand PRD. The key is to speak clearly. Common areas that are not explained clearly include failure to explain the background, incorrect identity settings, no AI examples, unclear objects, and whether there are acceptance criteria. To me, these things are not the language of product managers at all, but the language of editors: the meaning of the manuscript is unclear, and the editor will make up for it on his own, and the things he makes up are not what the author originally wanted; the same is true for AI, if you input something vague, it will make up for it, and the things you make up will be used as input for the next step, and the error will be amplified, and finally it will produce something that no one can recognize.

This is actually the change that the role of PM is undergoing in the AI ​​era - I talked about it in . AI has not replaced product managers, but has forced “speaking clearly” into a basic skill that everyone must complete.

Last night, I said casually: “Many people think that Vibe Coding is difficult, but in fact, as long as you cross that threshold, it will feel very simple.” Now think about it, crossing that threshold has never depended on learning grammar, but the ability to speak clearly. This point also appeared repeatedly in the Claude Code self-study guide I wrote for Artist Group Member.

Mermaid chart demonstration: No matter how powerful the tool is, the logic must be smooth first.

I was particularly touched by the demonstration about Mermaid chart generation. Teacher Giga showed everyone how to use AI to generate flowchart grammar. When it was my turn to add, I mentioned that the Online Presentation System I developed has already built-in Mermaid: I don’t need to understand grammar when making presentations. As long as I talk about the process, the system will automatically produce a Mermaid diagram. The principle of this matter is the same as that of PRD: no matter how powerful the tool is, you must first clarify the logic yourself before the tool can help. The order is always to think clearly first, and then it is AI’s turn to appear.

”AI Cat” and “Senior Diandian”: Only when the rules are explained clearly can AI do a beautiful job

When Mr. Giga introduced the “AI Cat: Intelligent Appointment Calendar (opens in a new tab)” he developed, I thought it was really convenient. However, the point is not how powerful the technology is, but that he explained the scheduling rules for courses and meetings to AI in a very plain but complete way: thirty minutes should be left between meetings, four hours of preparation time should be left the day before class, and whitelisted mailboxes are exempt from review. If these rules are written clearly enough, AI can make something more logical than a traditional calendar.

The same is true for the customer service agent “Dandian Senior Sister (opens in a new tab)”. It is not a rigid FAQ based on keyword comparison. It really understands the content of the entire site and answers questions. It relies on the people behind it to organize the information and context completely enough.

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I only started learning half a year ago, but I have already found a path.

At the end of the lecture, Teacher Giga gave me time to introduce the new book “Zero Basics of Vibe Coding (opens in a new tab)”. To be honest, I have only been exposed to Vibe Coding for more than half a year. I only started learning it during the Lunar New Year this year. In the past few months, I have made several websites, small games and complete systems. All the pitfalls I have encountered along the way have been written down in this book. This is my 21st book, and it is also an extension of the feeling of “So I can do it too”. I hope to communicate and grow with more friends through this book!

After listening to Teacher Giga’s entire live broadcast last night, I also learned a lot. If this book has the opportunity to be republished in the future, I would like to add one more paragraph to the book: Don’t rush to learn grammar and tools, learn to speak clearly first. This is a skill I have practiced for many years, but only now have I discovered that it has always been the most undervalued skill in the AI ​​era.

If you also want to move from “can only think and wait for others to help” to “do it yourself”, welcome to start with “Zero Basics of Vibe Coding (opens in a new tab)”.