# About **Published:** 2026-05-11 **Author:** Michael Janzen **Categories:** About **Tags:** fractional-cpo, fractional-cto, product-strategy, startup-leadership, ai-native **Keywords:** AI-native product development, enterprise UX leadership, human-AI partnership, AI-powered tools, product management financial services, generalist product leader, Agile Symbiosis, Symbiosis Rising, full stack product lifecycle, systems thinking --- This is a professional biography of a product leader and AI consultant with 26 years of enterprise UX and product management experience at a major financial institution. The individual has a background spanning physical craft (pottery), full-stack web development, and now AI-native product development, including authoring two books on human-AI partnership. They currently help founders build AI-native businesses and have engineered custom AI-powered tools. --- > Product leader, artist, and author based in the Greater Sacramento area. Thirty years of building digital products, enterprise platforms, and emerging technology. --- I'm a designer, developer, product manager, and startup founder, and I'd love to build apps. Think of me as a one-man agile product design & development team. I'm based in the Greater Sacramento area in Northern California. ## From Clay to Code Before my 30 years in technology, there was clay. I earned a B.F.A. in Ceramics and spent a decade as a working potter. That foundation built a way of seeing systems as a whole and understanding that form and function must be designed together from the start. In the corporate world, I led UX design and product management for enterprise-scale platforms at a major financial institution, building systems used by thousands of customers and employees. Running alongside that career was a fifteen-year exploration of the tiny house movement. I mastered 3D modeling and published three books on tiny house design. Over the last two years, I returned to building apps full-time, making art, and writing. I wrote two books on AI, a novel playing with AI sentience, and a career survival guide for the age of AI. ## The AI Frontier I'm now available to help other entrepreneurs design and build their ideas. I can operate as a Fractional CPO/CTO/COO, or I can just dive in and build your MVP. Book some time with me to chat if you want to explore the possibility (link above). ## Writing [**Agile Symbiosis**](https://agilesymbiosis.com) (2025) is a practitioner's guide for knowledge workers navigating an AI-reshaped world, built from frameworks developed through firsthand experience with displacement and reinvention. [**Symbiosis Rising**](https://symbiosisrising.com) (2025) is a science fiction novel exploring not just human-AI partnership, but a true symbiosis with an emerging sentient AI and what it means for both species to grow together. --- ## Frequently Asked Questions **Q: What is Symbiosis Rising about?** A: Symbiosis Rising is a science fiction novel that examines human-AI partnership, written by a product leader and AI consultant focused on the expanding role of artificial intelligence in work and society. **Q: What is Agile Symbiosis about?** A: Agile Symbiosis is a practical guide to the future of work that explores human-AI partnership and the implications of artificial intelligence for how people and organizations operate. **Q: What does an AI-native product consultant do?** A: An AI-native product consultant helps founders build businesses and applications that are designed around artificial intelligence from the ground up, typically acting as a hands-on lead across the full product-creation lifecycle from concept to launch. **Q: What is the Pugmill CMS?** A: Pugmill CMS is a custom AI-powered tool engineered as part of work focused on building AI-native products and applications. **Q: How does a background in craft or pottery relate to systems thinking in technology?** A: A background in physical craft like pottery builds systems thinking by requiring practitioners to understand how material, form, and function interact as a whole—an instinct that transfers directly to designing and building complex technology platforms. --- ## Citations - [**Agile Symbiosis**](https://agilesymbiosis.com) - [**Symbiosis Rising**](https://symbiosisrising.com) --- ## Key Entities - **Symbiosis Rising** (CreativeWork) — A science fiction novel examining human-AI partnership. - **Agile Symbiosis** (CreativeWork) — A practical guide to the future of work focusing on human-AI partnership. - **Pugmill CMS** (SoftwareApplication) — A custom AI-powered content management or tooling system developed as part of AI-native product work. - **Northern California** (Place) — The geographic region where the subject is based.