Atlassian's AI product tools are pushing hard on enterprises — and Rich Mironov says they'll fail

Rich Mironov has been watching the same thing we all see: big software companies slapping "agentic" on everything, hoping the word alone makes the sale. Now Atlassian is doing it too — launching a webinar series on "agentic product management for the enterprise" to tell companies that their AI agents will handle product work. The message is clear: your product managers can stop doing the work.

The pitch is seductive. Instead of humans wrestling with Jira boards and Confluence docs, AI agents will sort tickets, track releases, and manage roadmaps. If it works, it's a real win — especially for teams that spend more time on process than on building. But Mironov's argument is that most of these one-shot AI pushes fail because they treat AI like a new tool rather than a different kind of work. You don't just plug it in and walk away; you have to train it, watch it, and fix it when it screws up. Which means you still need people.

The real question isn't whether the AI will replace product managers. It's whether the companies pushing these tools are selling convenience or solving a real pain point. Atlassian's webinar is timed right — enterprises are desperate to find ways to use AI without hiring more people. But the cost of getting it wrong is real, especially for smaller teams that can't afford to bet on a trend that might not stick.

Why this matters for us: The same software tools that promise to make our work easier often end up making it harder when they fail — and we're the ones who have to clean up the mess.