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How to Build Impactful AI Agents Without Losing Your Head

Five core principles for building great AI products when the technology moves faster than anyone can track, stakeholders apply relentless pressure, and certainty about the right path never quite arrives.

Your instructor

Niamh JonesLead Product Manager, Pendo

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Modules

6

Lessons

33

Estimated

~1 hr

On completion

Badge

Meet your instructor

Niamh Jones

Niamh Jones

Lead Product Manager, Pendo

Niamh Jones leads product for Pendo's AI agents. She's shipped agents to production and spends her days on the unglamorous part — scoping, evaluating, and knowing when not to build one.

  • Lead Product Manager for AI agents at Pendo
  • Ships agents in production, not prototypes
  • Focused on scoping, evals, and knowing when not to build

What you'll learn

By the end, you'll be able to do these things.

1

Apply fundamental PM principles to AI product work

2

Understand what AI actually changes vs. what it just speeds up

3

Use the Shape Up model to validate AI features incrementally

4

Create a system for shipping AI features without losing control

5

Build the habits that separate great AI product work from average AI product work

6

Use 6 Claude skills to put each principle into practice immediately

On completion

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How to Build Impactful AI Agents Without Losing Your Head

Issued by

Pendo
Learning Lab

Date completed

8/12/2026

Instructor

Niamh Jones

Niamh Jones

Lead Product Manager, Pendo

How it works

Bite-size lessons. Real reps. Earn it.

Step 01

Learn

Short reading, video, and reflection prompts. 5–10 minutes per lesson.

Step 02

Practice

Hands-on quizzes, match-pairs, and fill-in-the-blank. Instant feedback.

Step 03

Get certified

Pass the module quizzes and earn a shareable, verifiable certificate.

The curriculum

6 modules · 33 lessons

Get started — it's free
1

The foundations of a great PM haven't changed

0/6

Why the fundamentals matter more, not less, when everyone can build.

  1. Video

    The New Pressure — with Niamh Jones

    3 min

  2. Lesson

    The foundations of a great PM haven't changed

    3 min

  3. Reading

    Watch: Why product managers are getting fired

    2 min

  4. Reflect

    Focus question

    2 min

  5. Exercise

    Audit your AI brief

    2 min

  6. Lesson

    Claude skills: Problem Space Mapper & AI Opportunity Brief

    1 min
2

What AI actually unlocks

0/6

Efficiency versus unlock — and the discovery question that separates them.

  1. Lesson

    What AI actually unlocks

    4 min

  2. Video

    The 26-Click Problem — with Niamh Jones

    7 min

  3. Video

    Watch: How every product team can drive business impact

    2 min

  4. Reflect

    Focus question

    2 min

  5. Exercise

    The faster vs. new audit

    2 min

  6. Lesson

    Claude skills: Workflow Complexity Analyser & Capability Auditor

    1 min
3

Forward deploying: getting comfortable with the frontier

0/6

How to ship into uncertainty responsibly — and why the first version is the easy part.

  1. Lesson

    Forward deploying: getting comfortable with the frontier

    4 min

  2. Video

    The Easiest Part — with Niamh Jones

    6 min

  3. Reading

    Reading: Navigating uncertainties as a product manager

    2 min

  4. Reflect

    Focus question

    2 min

  5. Exercise

    Launch readiness stress test

    1 min

  6. Lesson

    Claude skills: Beta Health Monitor & Launch Readiness

    1 min
4

The balancing act: what you're actually managing

0/6

The ongoing calibration of prompts, models, tools, cost and non-determinism.

  1. Lesson

    The balancing act: what you're actually managing

    4 min

  2. Video

    The Balancing Act — with Niamh Jones

    9 min

  3. Reading

    Reading: A product manager's guide to saying no

    2 min

  4. Reflect

    Focus question

    2 min

  5. Exercise

    Map your balancing act

    2 min

  6. Lesson

    Claude skills: Agent Experiment Tracker & Change Log Advisor

    1 min
5

Staying close to the data: why evals are not enough

0/6

The personal operating system for staying close to the experience and the human.

  1. Lesson

    Staying close to the data: why evals are not enough

    4 min

  2. Video

    Read the Conversations — with Niamh Jones

    6 min

  3. Reading

    Watch: How to improve your relationship with data

    2 min

  4. Reflect

    Focus question

    2 min

  5. Exercise

    Build your proximity ritual

    2 min

  6. Lesson

    Claude skills: Weekly Conversation Review & Insight Synthesiser

    1 min
6

Putting it all together to make the call

0/3

Apply all five principles to a real AI initiative, then earn your badge.

  1. Lesson

    Putting it all together to make the call

    3 min

  2. Exercise

    Make the call on a real initiative

    3 min

  3. Quiz

    Final assessment

    7 min

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