AMA: Atlassian Head of Product, DevOps , Suzie Prince on Product Development Process

Resource constraints are a reality. You will almost always want more time, more people, more budget. But more doesn’t necessarily mean better outcomes. Sometimes it leads to bloat, scattered focus, and the pressure to fill a roadmap instead of solving real problems. What matters is how you respond: Know your goal. What are you trying to achieve or learn right now? Keep the team centered on that. Prioritise. Prioritise. Prioritise. Not everything can get done, and that’s OK. What is the priority? ...Read More

At the core, good collaboration is built on trust, shared goals, and clarity of roles. I partner closely with engineering managers and design as a triad. We align early on customer problems, technical constraints, and experience principles. When it's working well, we’re in constant conversation via Slack, docs, quick standups, and working sessions. The goal is fast feedback loops and shared decision-making. When the audience is developers, the bar is higher. Engineers, whether on your team or yo ...Read More

Quality is everyone’s responsibility. It’s not just a role. It’s a mindset that needs to be built into how the team works, from planning through delivery. Here’s how I approach it: Everyone owns quality. Engineers focus on robustness and should think through edge cases. Design and PMs define what “good” looks like and help identify gaps or inconsistencies. Quality should be part of every discipline’s contribution, not delegated to a single person or role. Automated tests are a baseline. Unit, in ...Read More

Shipping on time only matters if what we’re delivering adds value or helps us learn. We think of it less as “on time” and more as “often and on purpose.” We don’t need perfect market insights to move forward, but we do need a consistent input loop so we can keep adjusting as we go. The market changes, customer needs evolve, and our product understanding deepens. That’s why speed and insight are not in conflict. They reinforce each other when used well. Here’s how we balance speed and insight: Cl ...Read More

Scope alignment is a shared responsibility. PMs, EMs, and designers should work together to make sure the team understands the why, the what, and the constraints, not just the tickets. Here’s what we focus on: Start with the problem and the goal: Before diving into scope or solutions, we align on what we’re solving and what impact we’re trying to have. If the team doesn’t understand the outcome we want, scope becomes disconnected from value. Co-create the plan: We don’t hand over scope documents ...Read More

I try to prevent it from becoming a problem in the first place. Most of the time, when engineers build something unplanned, it’s because they see a real opportunity to improve the product. That’s usually a sign of ownership, not ill intent. Here’s how I handle it: Set clear goals and priorities upfront. We align on what we’re focusing on and why. If something isn’t on the list, we’re explicit about the tradeoffs. Share the "why" behind the roadmap. When engineers understand the bigger picture — ...Read More

This comes up a lot on teams that build for developers. It’s great when engineers are close to the problem, but personal experience is not a substitute for user research or product strategy. Being the user doesn’t remove the need for empathy, validation, or iteration. In fact, it raises the bar because we’re at risk of building for ourselves instead of our users. Here’s how I usually frame the conversation: Your experience is valuable, but let’s validate it. Instead of pushing back hard, I try t ...Read More

Engineering should be involved from the beginning. Not just to scope or estimate, but to shape the problem and bring technical insight into the discovery process. Here’s how I typically include engineers: Problem framing. Engineers are part of defining the problem, not just reacting to it. We review customer pain, look at data, and align on what we’re solving before discussing solutions. Research and customer insights. If we’re doing customer interviews, engineers are invited to join. Hearing th ...Read More