How can enterprise product leaders balance customer needs, technical complexity, and strategic vision? In this podcast hosted by Cassio Sampaio, Okta VP of Product Ian Hassard will be speaking on building effective B2B SaaS roadmaps and navigating product management challenges. Ian shares insights from his extensive experience leading product teams at high-growth companies like Okta and Auth0, offering a deep dive into modern product management strategies.
Subscribe to the Product Talk podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and catch every conversation with leading product executives.
Show Notes
- Regular customer engagement is critical to avoid “inside-out thinking” and product bias
- Product managers should aim for 3-4 customer calls per month to maintain market understanding
- Roadmaps should have clear near-term deliverables with decreasing resolution as you look further out
- Agile methodology is for development execution, not long-term roadmap planning
- Successful product teams require a diverse mix of technical and strategic product managers
- AI tools can significantly streamline task work like market research and customer feedback analysis
- Product managers must continuously learn and expand their skill sets
- Customer escalations require a well-defined process with clear stakeholder alignment
- Technical depth matters, but soft skills like customer engagement are equally important
- Product teams should collaborate closely with research, sales, and customer success teams
- Setting minimum customer interaction quotas helps build team capability and market awareness
- Enterprise customers require roadmap visibility 12-18 months in advance
- Not all product managers need to be deeply technical, but understanding technology is crucial
- AI will democratize product development, potentially leveling the playing field for smaller companies
- Pragmatic problem-solving is more important than rigid adherence to initial product plans
- Product managers should be willing to extend beyond their current mandate
- Time management and deep work are critical skills for product management success
- Customer feedback should be analyzed for common themes, not treated as isolated requests
- Product leaders must create a culture comfortable with roadmap disruption and flexibility
- Continuous learning and adaptability are the most important traits for product management career growth
About the speaker
Ian Hassard is the Vice President of Product Management at Okta, with over 20 years of experience leading innovative products across telecom, networking, security, and SaaS. A co-founder of Rootsecure, acquired by Arctic Wolf Networks in 2018, Ian is passionate about cybersecurity and emerging tech like AI and VR. Based in Waterloo, Canada, he’s a retro gaming and arcade machine enthusiast, sailor, and mentor to aspiring product professionals.
About the host
I am a product person with 20+ years of experience most recently with DigitalOcean, Apple, Auth0 and now running Customer Identity at Okta. I love technical products and my sweet spot is B2B SaaS / IaaS. I have done a bit of everything including running engineering teams, corporate development and marketing and lived and worked in Canada, US and Brazil.