Max Schoening

Product and design leader with experience at Notion, GitHub, Heroku, and Google.

Mentions

Appeared in

Discussed in

Key positions and views

Agency Trumps Skill: In the AI era, the ability to self-direct and execute projects ('agency') is more valuable than specific technical skills, which are being democratized by AI. (Claim 35)

The 'Tiny Core' Product Strategy: Truly great products are built around a single, exceptionally well-executed core feature, rather than a broad set of mediocre ones. (Claim 54)

AI Commoditization to 'Good Enough': The focus of AI product development will shift from raw intelligence to factors like speed, cost, and local execution once models become 'good enough' for most tasks, challenging the assumption that customers always want the frontier model. (Claims 31, 21)

The Blurring of Technical and Non-Technical Roles: AI tools are enabling non-engineers (designers, PMs) to contribute directly to code, while the principles of software engineering will permeate all business domains as software creation costs approach zero. (Claims 10, 22, 39)

Strategic Positioning Over User Experience: A product with a superior user experience (e.g., Heroku) can lose in the market to a competitor (e.g., Kubernetes) that offers a better strategic value proposition to the organization, such as empowering existing teams and avoiding vendor lock-in. (Claims 27, 46)

Podcast consensus on Schoening

Points of consensus

▶Max Schoening previously held roles as a product manager at Google and a design leader and engineer at GitHub. (Claims 2, 4, 5, 6)May 2026

▶While Schoening was at GitHub, the product review process prioritized functional demonstrations over written documents, following a "demos, not memos" philosophy. (Claims 1, 20)May 2026

▶At Notion, a cultural shift is underway where non-engineers, such as designers and product managers, are increasingly contributing directly to the production codebase using AI tools. (Claims 22, 39, 14)May 2026

▶Schoening has observed a decline in Figma usage among some designers at Notion, who are now opting for code-based prototyping to better simulate interactive AI experiences. (Claims 40, 58, 19, 28)May 2026

Points of debate

▶Schoening champions the trend of merging roles for PMs, designers, and engineers enabled by AI, yet he also cautions that this convergence could lead to a detrimental loss of deep specialists if not managed carefully. (Claims 22, 39 vs. 29)

▶He asserts that AI has made the initial 10% of any project 'effectively free,' but simultaneously observes that the overall quality and reliability of software has not improved in the last year, suggesting a tension between ease of creation and quality of output. (Claim 13 vs. 23, 55)May 2026

▶Schoening's core product philosophy is that great products have a 'tiny core' feature that is exceptionally good, yet he also predicts a return to broad, general-purpose software reminiscent of 1990s tools like FileMaker Pro, creating a contrast between focused excellence and broad utility. (Claim 54 vs. 47, 59)

▶He holds the contrarian view that 'knowledge work' functions as a form of universal basic income, implying many roles are non-essential, while his professional focus is on building sophisticated tools to optimize the productivity and workflows of these same knowledge workers. (Claim 18)May 2026

Key themes

▶The 'Tiny Core' Product PhilosophyMay 2026

Schoening posits that all truly successful products are built around a single, exceptionally well-executed feature or capability. He identifies this 'tiny core' for companies like GitHub (the pull request), Heroku (git push deployment), Notion (block editor), and Figma (real-time collaboration).

This philosophy suggests that investors should prioritize companies that demonstrate obsessive focus and excellence on a single, powerful user value proposition over those with a wide but shallow feature set.

▶Agency Over Skills in the AI Era

A central thesis of Schoening's is that as AI democratizes technical skills, the most valuable human quality becomes 'agency'—the drive and ability to take initiative and see a project through. He believes this trait is more critical for success than traditional skills, which can now be augmented or automated by AI.

For talent acquisition and management, this implies a shift in focus from assessing specific technical proficiencies to identifying and cultivating proactive, self-directed individuals who can effectively leverage AI as a tool.

▶The Blurring of Roles and Rise of the GeneralistMay 2026

Schoening observes and encourages a trend where designers and product managers are increasingly using AI tools to contribute directly to production code, breaking down traditional silos. He predicts that the principles of software engineering will permeate all business domains as the cost of creation plummets, leading to more generalized, technically-enabled roles.

This trend could disrupt the market for specialized SaaS tools and create opportunities for platforms that empower generalists to build and manage complex workflows without deep specialization.

▶The Future of Software: Malleable, General-Purpose ServicesMay 2026

Schoening predicts a market shift away from the rigid, form-based SaaS of the 2010s and back toward more general-purpose, malleable tools reminiscent of 1990s applications like FileMaker Pro. However, he maintains that these tools will continue to be delivered 'as a service,' as users will not want the burden of maintaining the underlying infrastructure.

This signals a potential decline for niche, single-purpose SaaS applications and a major opportunity for highly customizable, AI-native platforms that provide powerful, general-purpose primitives for users to build their own solutions.

Source episodes

Sentiment over time

Not enough data for timeline

Changes over time

2014

Schoening's startup had a term sheet from True Ventures withdrawn after Notion, a future competitor, created a portfolio conflict for the VC firm. (Claim 49)

Pre-LLM Era (at GitHub)

Worked as a design leader and engineer at GitHub under Nat Friedman. He notes that during this time, the culture emphasized 'demos, not memos' and that designers accounted for roughly 10% of top contributors to the GitHub codebase. (Claims 1, 4, 6, 20, 60)

Career History

Held roles as a product manager at Google and ran the design team at Heroku, where he developed insights into product strategy and user experience, particularly through the lens of Heroku's competition with Kubernetes. (Claims 2, 3, 5, 27, 46)

Current (at Notion)

As a leader at Notion, he is overseeing a shift where designers and PMs use AI to code, prototyping for AI has moved from Figma to custom playgrounds, and the company maintains an 'unlimited' internal AI token spend policy to encourage exploration. (Claims 14, 19, 32, 41)

Suggested prompts

How does Schoening's 'tiny core' product philosophy reconcile with his prediction of a return to general-purpose, malleable software? &nearr;What are the potential long-term consequences for team structure and individual career paths if Schoening's vision of blended PM, design, and engineering roles becomes widespread? &nearr;Schoening argues 'agency' is the most important quality, but how can organizations systematically cultivate and measure it, especially in a remote or AI-augmented environment? &nearr;If AI models reach a 'good enough' state for most knowledge work, as Schoening predicts, what are the second-order effects on the business models of frontier AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic? &nearr;

Key concepts

Notion 17 ep AI's Impact on Roles 11 ep Product Philosophy 10 ep AI Model Strategy 9 ep GitHub 8 ep Design & Prototyping 5 ep Future of Software 4 ep Heroku vs. Kubernetes 4 ep SaaS Industry 4 ep Agency 2 ep

Notable quotes

“if I really look at the truly great products, they all have one tiny core that is so exceptionally good.”

Max Schoening · Why cultivating agency matters more than cultivating skills in the AI era | Max Schoening (Notion)

“The thing that matters is agency. And I don't think agency is very evenly distributed in the world.”

Max Schoening · Why cultivating agency matters more than cultivating skills in the AI era | Max Schoening (Notion)

“Heroku was saying, hey, we're going to replace your ops team. And Kubernetes was, we're going to make your ops team superheroes. And also, we're not going to lock you into a cloud.”

Max Schoening · Why cultivating agency matters more than cultivating skills in the AI era | Max Schoening (Notion)

“I suspect that software will go more back into the nineties of general tools, word processor, spreadsheet, FileMaker Pro, that kind of thing. But those will still be as a service.”

Max Schoening · Why cultivating agency matters more than cultivating skills in the AI era | Max Schoening (Notion)

Report last updated: May 4, 2026

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