Have you ever wished for AI to only answer based on the data you give it? Or maybe you want to turn some of your sources into a real-sounding podcast? This and much more is possible with NotebookLM.
When I embarked on the mission to test and review some of the most useful AI tools for PMs available right now, I outlined several categories all those tools fall in. Most of the AI tools available at the moment could be split into two bigger categories: conversation AI and creation AI. NotebookLM is both. This product blends AI categories and provides truly unique value.
What is NotebookLM?
The best way to describe what NotebookLM is that it is your personal research assistant combined with a recording studio. Let's elaborate. The main UI is split into 3 major areas:
Sources
Here you can add the information you want NotebookLM to consider when coming up with answers. You can add web links, documents and even YouTube videos as data sources.Chat
Your main working area where you can ask questions that will be answered based on the sources you've provided. In addition to the conversations, you can also ask NotebookLM to create a mindmap and even a quiz based on your data.Audio
This is a unique feature of NotebookLM where you can generate an audio overview of the information provided in your sources. The tool generates a high quality podcast with two hosts that talk about your data. You can also customise this podcast by "asking" hosts to focus on particular topics or apply a distinct style to their conversation.I was impressed by the quality of the audio NotebookLM produces. As a big fan of podcasts who listens all the time, if I didn't know this podcast was generated by AI - I would have thought it's a professionally recorded piece done by humans. You can listen to the podcast inside NotebookLM or download the audio.
Lately, they've added a new "interactive mode" allowing you to join the conversation. It's even more impressive as it puts you right into the "recording studio", allowing you to have a conversation with the "hosts" of the podcast.
NotebookLM for PMs
There are so many ways PMs can benefit from NotebookLM. I am using it for discovery, research, validation, learning and communication. Let's look at some of the use cases.Discovery
As PMs, we often need to synthesise multiple sources of information and extract insights from them. It could be competitive research or user needs exploration or customer sentiment analysis or... NotebookLM could help with all of these. Just feed it all the links to competitor websites you interested in and then ask questions. Or upload all customer feedback you collected and ask it to create a mindmap with the most common problems they mention. Or even, add that one spreadsheet you're working with, every company has at least one, and "have a conversation" with it.NotebookLM can save you tons of time during discovery and research. The ability to consider only the sources you've uploaded lowers the chances of hallucinations and provides you with reliable insights you can act upon or communicate further.
Learning
Oh, how I wish I had a tool like NotebookLM when I was studying. It makes the process so much faster, easier and fun. As people, we all have our learning preferences. Some enjoy reading long form, others prefer videos, I love audiobooks and podcasts. NotebookLM can satisfy most of us by taking information from various sources and turning it into insights that could be consumed in audio or text form.I use NotebookLM for learning all the time, and not only at work. Lately, I wanted to educate myself better on the history of Britain. I've added a few wiki articles, some videos, and uploaded a bunch of PDFs on the topic to NotebookLM. Then I generated a podcast that was on par with some of the history books I listened to before. After that, I asked NotebookLM to quiz me on what I've learnt. I was able to learn more in a shorter time in a fun way.
Communication
Going back to PM challenges. One that we have is communication. How often do our messages not reach? People don't read what we wrote, people don't pay attention in meetings, people ignore the insights we provide. NotebookLM, of course, won't be able to solve all of those issues; however, maybe it could help in other ways.In my PM experience, this maxim turned out to be true every time - "a picture is worth a thousand words". Most people react better to something visual vs just words on the screen. Unfortunately, often it's even worse, for me, people default to meetings over text. NotebookLM could be helpful here if you, like me, is not a fan of meetings or drawing pretty pictures.
Next time you're preparing internal comms, for example, for your new product update, upload the info to NotebookLM and generate a podcast about it. Share it with your colleagues and see what happens. As a minimum, most people will be surprised by the change of format that could drive attention to your message. And if you're lucky, everyone might just love it, and your message will be understood.
You can try doing that for all sorts of comms. Another example, you have an important presentation to give to your CEO, and you know you'll be questioned. Practice with the help of NotebookLM's "interactive mode". Give it explicit instructions to interview you on the material you've added to the sources. Those preparations all but guarantee you'll have better success in your actual meeting.
Summary
NotebookLM is an incredibly powerful tool for PMs that could help with discovery, research, learning and communication. It works with the sources you've provided and could provide insights in different forms. Podcast generation is a headline feature of NotebookLM, and it does it really well. I think NotebookLM is an essential tool for every PM.