Maximizing Efficiency: 7 ChatGPT Applications for Product Owners

It becomes an indispensable tool for Agile teams, because being Agile means staying on top of trends and leveraging the available technology to maximize customer value delivery. In this blog post, I would like to share a few ideas for product owners: how to leverage the newest features of ChatGPT to create better products and drive outcomes.

If you are new to ChatGPT, you need to know that currently there are three versions available: GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and GPT-4o. To get full access to the most advanced and smartest version, GPT-4o, you need the paid access, but trust me, it is worth it! Some of the ideas we will discuss here are only available with the paid version, but you can get a lot from the free 3.5 version as well.

Even in the era of AI, it's essential to continue actively doing your customer research. AI might not always have all the data available and sometimes makes mistakes when asked about facts (a phenomenon known as "hallucination"). Additionally, human behavior is not always rational and predictable – the myth of "homo economicus" has been debunked, showing that people often behave irrationally. Thus, you can only truly understand your real-world customers by observing them in action.

However, once you have collected your information, you can get a little help from ChatGPT with persona creation. Upload all the information you've gathered about your customer segment and ask ChatGPT to generate 2-3 personas matching your target audience. You can take this a step further by creating a custom GPT for each persona (this feature is available with a paid subscription). Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to "Explore GPTs".
2. Select "Create".
3. Input all the information about your persona.
4. Ask ChatGPT to generate an avatar.
5. Click "Create" again and voila, your persona is alive.

Now you can interact with these personas, interview them, and ask for their opinions on various topics. While this should not replace interviewing real humans, it serves as an excellent tool for quick sanity checks.

I feel really sorry for copywriters, but ChatGPT is taking their jobs away from them at an alarming speed. AI can write content for you (although in my opinion it tends to be quite dull as it misses the human touch), so I would not recommend completely outsourcing content creation to ChatGPT. However, you can ask it to improve your writing, compile professional release notes based on your input, create executive summaries based on articles, or generate technical documentation.

Personally, I prefer writing content (such as my blog or site contents) myself, but I always get some input from ChatGPT to ensure proper grammar (after all, English is not my native language) and to get suggestions on how to rephrase long and dull sentences. However, I shamelessly rely on AI when generating summaries for my content – lessons, blog posts, etc., for example, to use in the page meta description or previews.

Here are some specific ways you can leverage ChatGPT as a writing assistant:

1. Grammar and Style Enhancement: Provide ChatGPT with your draft, and it will help correct grammatical errors and suggest stylistic improvements. This is particularly useful if English is not your first language or if you want to ensure your writing is polished and professional.
2. Rephrasing and Clarity: Long and convoluted sentences can be a barrier to clear communication. ChatGPT can help rephrase such sentences to make them more concise and easier to understand. This can improve the readability and engagement of your content.
3. Professional Release Notes: When you need to compile release notes for a product update, ChatGPT can assist by organizing your input into a clear, professional format. You provide the key points and updates, and ChatGPT will generate well-structured release notes that effectively communicate the changes to your audience.
4. Executive Summaries: Summarizing lengthy articles or reports can be time-consuming. ChatGPT can create executive summaries that capture the main points and essential information, making it easier for stakeholders to grasp the key takeaways quickly.
5. Technical Documentation: For complex technical topics, ChatGPT can help generate documentation that is clear and comprehensive. By providing detailed explanations and step-by-step instructions, it ensures that your documentation is both informative and accessible.
6. Content Summarization for SEO: Generating summaries for meta descriptions or content previews can enhance your SEO efforts. ChatGPT can create concise and engaging summaries that attract readers and improve your search engine visibility.

It's important to get all AI-generated content checked by a human for errors and hallucinations, as AI is not perfect yet and sometimes makes things up. This ensures the accuracy and reliability of your content, maintaining your credibility and trust with your audience.

Recently, I had to provide a Russian-speaking client with an overview of the Japanese tax system for corporations. I had a great article at hand written in Japanese. Russian is my mother tongue, and I speak Japanese pretty well, but taxation vocabulary is not my forte (in any language). ChatGPT saved me a couple of hours of work by providing a quick summary of the article in Russian. I had to cross-check it, but the majority of the work got done by my little helper.

ChatGPT is amazing at summarizing the core ideas of long articles, analyzing chunks of data, and creating executive summaries that could be useful for your research, analysis, and more. Here’s how you can leverage ChatGPT for summary and analysis:

1. Article Summarization: Provide ChatGPT with the text of the article, and it will generate a concise summary capturing the main points. This is particularly useful when dealing with long and complex articles, as it helps you quickly grasp the essential information without reading the entire text.
2. Data Analysis: Input your data into ChatGPT, and it can analyze the information, identify trends, and provide insights. This can be particularly beneficial for making data-driven decisions, conducting market research, or preparing reports.
3. Executive Summaries: Whether it’s a research paper, a business report, or a lengthy document, ChatGPT can create executive summaries that highlight the key findings and recommendations. Specify what the summary will be used for to ensure that ChatGPT tailors the style and depth to your needs.
4. Translation and Summarization: If you have content in a language you're not fully comfortable with, ChatGPT can translate and summarize it for you. This is especially useful for multilingual projects or when dealing with specialized vocabulary, as it saves time and ensures accuracy.
5. Exploring Specialized GPTs: If you have a ChatGPT+ subscription, you can access a vast library of specialized GPTs designed for different kinds of research and analysis. These include GPTs tailored to support scientific research, summarize YouTube videos, or provide marketing insights. Exploring these options can enhance your research capabilities and provide targeted solutions for specific tasks.

When creating prompts for ChatGPT, be specific and explain what the summary or analysis will be used for. This way, the AI will adjust the style and depth to meet your requirements. Whether you need a high-level overview or a detailed analysis, clear instructions will help you get the most out of ChatGPT.

Writing user stories can be a boring task, and when you add acceptance criteria to it, it might feel soul-crushing. Both are very important, as they allow us to summarize the value we are planning to deliver to the customer (as opposed to "features" or "tasks" where we know exactly what needs to be done but might ignore how valuable it would be and for whom). A user story defines who the customer is, what they want, and how much value they would gain from it (without specifying how it should be implemented).

User Story Example:

• As a frequent traveler,
• I want to receive real-time updates about my flight status
• So that I can adjust my plans accordingly and avoid unnecessary waiting at the airport.

However, it might feel unnatural due to the structure, so writing user stories is not always easy. On top of it, we usually add acceptance criteria – a clarification of specific scenarios, customer status, triggers, etc., that help the team better understand what needs to be implemented. The common template is "given - when - then."

Acceptance Criteria Example:

• Given I am logged into the travel app,
• When my flight is delayed or canceled,
• Then I receive a push notification with the updated status and alternative options.

Once again, this is not a very natural sentence structure, and writing it might not always be easy. ChatGPT to the rescue!

I am a strong believer that everything that is repetitive, boring, and can be outsourced should be outsourced, and I myself prefer to focus on everything that is creative, fun, and interesting. So focus on learning about your customers and envisioning the great product you want to build, and let ChatGPT do all the writing for you.

Whenever you are launching an app, designing a website, or creating mockups for a new project, you often need to generate sample data so that your product looks like it's being used by real people. Creating this kind of data – fake profiles, order information, site contents – is one of the most boring tasks if you ask me. Besides, it does not create a lot of value, so why not ask ChatGPT to come up with some new ideas within seconds?

You can even specify a theme based on whether you want your content to look polished and professional or have some humor and Easter eggs inside. I am constantly amazed at how funny ChatGPT can be at times! Here are a few ways ChatGPT can assist in generating sample data:

1. Fake Profiles: Need sample user profiles for your app or website? ChatGPT can generate realistic fake profiles complete with names, emails, addresses, and even interests. Whether you need professional-looking profiles for a corporate site or quirky and humorous profiles for a casual app, ChatGPT can create them in no time.
2. Order Information: For e-commerce sites or apps, generating sample order information can be a tedious task. ChatGPT can quickly create detailed order data, including product names, prices, quantities, and customer information. This helps you populate your site with realistic data, making it easier to test and showcase your product.
3. Site Contents: Whether you need placeholder text for blog posts, product descriptions, or any other content on your site, ChatGPT can generate it for you.
4. Themed Data: Give ChatGPT a theme or specific instructions for the sample data. For example, you might want professional-looking content for a corporate site or humorous and quirky content for a fun app. ChatGPT can adapt the generated data to fit your desired tone and style, adding personality and character to your mockups.
5. Creative and Fun Elements: ChatGPT can incorporate humor and Easter eggs into the sample data. This can make your mockups more engaging and entertaining, helping you stand out and capture the attention of your audience.

So, instead of using old-fashioned "lorem ipsum" filler text, leverage ChatGPT to generate original, tailored content for your brand in less than a second. This approach not only saves time but also makes your mockups more realistic and engaging.

The possibilities are unlimited: whether you want to learn new skills yourself or train your customers on how to use your product, you can always engage ChatGPT. For example, if you are new to customer research, you can ask ChatGPT how to do it and get detailed instructions for each step. You can even ask it to test your knowledge of a particular topic and provide a graded assessment. Additionally, you can request an overview of skills needed to boost your career and create a personalized learning path.

If you want to educate your customers, you can create a dedicated GPT (note that your customers would need to have a ChatGPT+ subscription to use it). Upload documents with the necessary knowledge, give it a specific set of instructions, and introduce it to your customers. I have recently created AI assistants for all my online courses. Each assistant has a name, knows all the contents of the course they are assigned to, and is trained to assist my students in learning, test their knowledge, and recommend my other courses based on their learning plans. This is a win-win scenario: my students get a 24/7 multilingual assistant, and I attract more students as they choose to continue their learning with me.

Furthermore, if you or your team have coding skills, you can leverage ChatGPT's API to build completely customized bots. These bots would be free for your customers to use, although you would be billed based on the number of requests they make. This allows you to provide a highly personalized and scalable educational tool that enhances customer engagement and satisfaction.

Communication skills are absolutely critical for product owners as you need to talk to your team members, stakeholders, and customers daily. It's great if you have an outgoing personality and feel at ease with all different types of personalities. As for me, I am introverted and don't deal very well with aggression and rudeness. Additionally, I am terrible at sales, so I use ChatGPT as a communication coach.

To get started, outline the scenario of communication you want to practice, such as responding to a bully, interviewing a customer who doesn't want to talk, making a presentation to an executive, or asking for a raise. Then, ask ChatGPT to act as your counterpart in the scenario. For instance, you might say: "ChatGPT, please act as a difficult stakeholder who is being aggressive and dismissive during a project meeting."

It’s always a good idea to ask if the instructions are clear before starting the conversation. Once you confirm, begin the interaction. After completing the conversation, ask ChatGPT to evaluate your responses and provide recommendations on how your communication style could be improved in the given scenario.

For example, if you need to practice responding to a difficult stakeholder, you can engage in a simulated conversation with ChatGPT acting as the stakeholder. After the session, you might ask: "ChatGPT, can you evaluate my responses during our practice conversation and provide feedback on how I could improve my communication style?"

Using ChatGPT in this way allows you to prepare for various challenging communication scenarios in a safe and controlled environment. Whether handling conflict, conducting interviews, making presentations, or negotiating, ChatGPT can help you build confidence and improve your skills.

By leveraging ChatGPT as a communication coach, you can significantly enhance your ability to handle professional interactions with confidence and poise. Focus on the creative, fun, and interesting aspects of your role, and let ChatGPT assist with honing your communication skills. For more tips and insights on improving your professional skills, visit our blog and explore our online courses.