What high-confidence product managers do differently - Axel Sooriah (Atlassian)

What It Covers

Axel Sooriah from Atlassian shares findings from a survey of 1000+ product managers, revealing 84% doubt their products will succeed despite 90% loving their craft, plus insights on AI adoption and cross-functional collaboration challenges.

Key Questions Answered

• •AI productivity paradox: Over 60% of product teams reclaim more than two hours daily using AI tools, yet half still lack time for strategic planning and roadmapping, indicating the recovered time gets consumed by additional execution work rather than high-value activities.
• •Engineering exclusion problem: In 80% of teams, engineers remain shut out of ideation and roadmapping phases, creating an assembly line approach rather than collaborative jazz band dynamics. Early engineering involvement prevents rework, increases creativity, and ensures strategic context for technical decisions.
• •Confidence through discovery: Product managers' doubt about product success correlates directly with insufficient time for customer and product discovery activities. Without evidence gathering, decision-making confidence erodes, creating a cycle where teams lack conviction in their work despite loving the craft itself.
• •Automated discovery workflow: AI enables complete automation of customer interview workflows—transcription, insight extraction, summarization, Slack sharing, and video clip creation—reducing post-interview work from two to three hours down to fifteen minutes, freeing time for strategic thinking and problem-solving activities.