Overlap isn't collapse

design has always done some PM work. PM has always done some design thinking. Designers code a little, engineers roadmap a little. The roles have always had overlap, and some will argue they were always blurry. Maybe, but overlap and collapse are two different things.

Overlap means you can reach across the aisle, collapse means the aisle disappears, and this era of AI is going to stress-test which one we're actually looking at. This isn't without precedent. In graphic design, typesetters, prepress operators, and the people who set up print were all distinct roles — until software collapsed them into one person. Nobody debates whether those roles should come back. They just... went. So why would this time be any different?