Product · AI · Systems thinking
Are you solving for the right problem?
I write about the questions that get squeezed out when everyone's moving fast — on product, AI, and how to understand the space you're working with.
Three ideas that shape how I look at most things
01
The problem space
Knowing where you are on the problem-to-solution spectrum changes everything about how you work.
Explore → 02
Systems thinking
Every black box is a set of choices someone made a long time ago, for conditions that no longer apply.
Explore → 03
Tracking results
Success metrics are a thinking tool — reach for them before the thinking is done.
Explore → Featured writing
All posts →Systems thinking
The Systems of Provenance
AI now generates the analysis, the numbers, and the decisions your business runs on. Trace one back and most companies cannot say where it came from, whether it holds up, what it is worth, or what it has already changed. The problem is no longer what AI produces. It is whether you can trust it.
Jul 6, 2026 · 9 min read
AI
When Everyone Has the Same Content Operations, What's Your Actual Differentiator?
High-volume content operations were a real competitive moat, until AI made them available to everyone. The moat is gone. What remains is the differentiation that was always underneath it
Jun 6, 2026 · 9 min
Systems thinking
Is AI Hiding Our Failure Modes?
AI is making it easier than ever to build things that look like they work. The failure modes are still there. We just can't see them anymore.
May 27, 2026 · 6 min
About Me
John Irving
Product and systems thinker. Background in information systems. Spent most of a career inside startups watching smart people move fast in the wrong direction.
ProductAISystems
Full about page → The premise
"Irving Space is not a personal brand play. It's not a portfolio. It's a place to navigate through ideas, because exploring is how I figure out what I actually believe." — John Irving