AMA: Atlassian Director of Product Management (Confluence), Paresh Vakhariya on Product Roadmap & Prioritization

New ideas can come from various sources: Customer and end User feedback Metrics and usage data. Metrics movers: ideas that will make a dent on you metrics Market research, competitive analysis and trends: Stakeholders such as other teams that are dependent on you Engineering efficiency and improvements Please see my other response on how to decide what to build. Broadly speaking the decision for what to build depends upon: User problems that the features will help resolve Impact: what is the end ...Read More

Here are some ways to collaborate with Sales teams: Ongoing communication of the product strategy, vision and roadmap. Explain the importance of balancing sales needs, customer needs, market trends, metrics impact and technical development. Clarify your prioritization process so that Sales team is bought into your roadmap and what you will ship. Document all Sales feedback to ensure they feel they are being heard Get ongoing feedback and input from Sales teams. Regularly communicate updates on t ...Read More

It is tricky but important to handle exec input. Here are some tips: Get a good understanding of the company objectives, priorities, OKR's and exec interest in your area. Articulate your product strategy and how it aligns with the overall business objectives. Explain how your roadmap supports the broader objective. Bring metrics data and customer to support your views. Also any competitive data as applicable. Clearly show all blockers, tradeoffs, and gaps. Ask for any resourcing or funding you m ...Read More

The stakeholders who typically have input into a roadmap can be: Customers and Users: Product Managers on other teams (that have a dependency) Development Team Executives and Leadership team Sales, Customer Success, Support and Marketing Teams Some tactics to balancing influence vs. control: Regular communication and feedback from all stakeholders Regular communication of the product vision, strategic goals and OKR's/metrics Sharing customer and end user usage data Defining clear roles and respo ...Read More

Generally the process I follow to prioritize features is: Aggregating feedback: from customers, users, and stakeholders through various avenues Review User metrics to help identify pain points, feature requests etc. Align feature prioritization with long term Vision/Strategy (This needs to be defined ahead of the prioritization exercise) Assess the potential impact and value of each feature using factors such as customer metrics, market trends, competitive analysis, and alignment with company go ...Read More

Making your roadmap publicly available can be a good idea when: Sharing your roadmap publicly can build trust with your customers to show that you value their input and are committed to delivering features that align with their needs. You can set clear expectations regarding the features, bugs and enhancements that are in progress or planned. It can be an attractive selling point for potential customers. Customers can provide feedback, suggest enhancements, and even participate in discussions ab ...Read More