Marty Cagan, Author at Silicon Valley Product Group · Marty Cagan
articleprincipleThe AI Productivity Paradox
23 July 2026Product
We’ve been writing a lot lately about product teams that are clearly leveraging AI to deliver faster, yet their outcomes are not improving. Today, this phenomenon, known as the “AI Productivity Paradox,” has been recognized by people from across the industry. From the latest McKinsey Quarterly: “The business world is grappling with an AI paradox:... The post The AI Productivity Paradox appeared first on Silicon Valley Product Group.
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Apollo layer
What a founder can learn
Founder takeaway
Treat AI-enabled speed as an input, not success. Evaluate whether faster delivery is producing better customer and business outcomes before expanding AI adoption.
Why it matters
AI can increase the volume and pace of work without increasing value. If founders reward output alone, they risk scaling activity, cost, and complexity rather than customer impact.
Relevant guides
Put it to work
Pick one AI-assisted workflow and compare its delivery-speed gains with a defined outcome metric. What would you stop, change, or validate if output rose but the outcome did not?