AMA: Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy, Sean Falconer on Product Roadmap & Prioritization
April 1 @ 9:00AM PT
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Move Items on Roadmap: What are your suggestions for product leads when they need to efficiently explain that an item on the roadmap needs to move because some other item has become more important?
We are required to write long docs and spend hours on creating decks for leadership which is not the best use of time
Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy • Apr 1
When priorities shift, it should feel like a response to reality, not a shift based on a whim or your isolated opinion. Keep the conversation tight and grounded in eviden...
370 Views
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Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy • Apr 1
With how fast things are moving, especially with AI, the idea of a detailed 18–24 month roadmap is starting to die. You just can’t predict that far out with real confiden...
352 Views
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Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy • Apr 1
This is very true and part of the fun and complexity of the role. You have to wear a lot of hats. As a former founder, I love this. I also think of balancing these differ...
413 Views
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Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy • Apr 1
I wouldn’t start by trying to sell product management. I’d start with a roadshow.Sit down with engineering leaders and do two things:Explain how you think about product, ...
935 Views
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What are the best practices for introducing roadmapping as a product management practice in a transforming organization that is new to product practices and mindset, and how can you ensure that different teams stay consistent with the formats or frameworks used, while still allowing for flexibility and innovation?
In context of an organization undergoing business transformation, managing exiting products and product portfolios with a product approach rather than project based approach.
Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy • Apr 1
Start with the why, not the template. In organizations new to product, roadmaps often get mistaken for delivery schedules or feature lists. Reframe them as a way to commu...
369 Views
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Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy • Apr 1
In a lot of organizations, PMM isn’t treated as a strategic partner. They end up as glorified order takers making slides and packaging launches. That’s a mistake. If that...
358 Views
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Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy • Apr 1
If leadership isn’t providing guidance, you have to step in and fill that gap. That’s the job.There’s never really a moment where a PM can throw their hands up and say, “...
368 Views
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Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy • Apr 1
It’s a big question, and there’s no single answer but in my career the common thread is immersion.Early in my career at Google, I went through ~600 support tickets and gr...
452 Views
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Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy • Apr 1
I think this mostly comes down to being prepared. Good execs are usually looking for input, it’s not their way or the highway, but they’re also not going to just take you...
367 Views
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Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy • Apr 1
A lot of these situations come down to transparency and inclusion. In my experience, when sales leadership tries to dictate the roadmap (or anyone for that matter), it’s ...
374 Views
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Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy • Apr 1
I try to make prioritization feel less like intuition and more like a consistent set of lenses we apply to every decision.One thing that’s been important in practice is h...
355 Views
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Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy • Apr 1
The importance of product vision doesn’t go away as a product matures, but how you apply it changes and so do the kinds of people and problems you need to solve.In the ea...
368 Views
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Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy • Apr 1
When you’re talking to potential users, the key is steering the conversation away from their ideal vision and toward what would actually change their behavior. Start by g...
372 Views
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Confluent Senior Director of Product, AI Products and Strategy • Apr 1
In product work, the biggest real value from AI today isn’t that it’s magically building production systems for you. It’s that it’s dramatically accelerating how you thin...
394 Views
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