[mathattack]

I would say 1 salesperson in 20 has the ability, interest and influence to alter a product roadmap. The other 19 exist because of their competitive drive and ability to bang their head against a wall without losing enthusiasm.

[polote]

In my experience 100% of salespeople will try to influence the product roadmap if it means they can sign a new deal

[mathattack]

Yes. “What can I promise on the roadmap to close this deal?” is very different than “What is best for the roadmap?”

You can’t trust a salesperson to think about the broader good when half their comp is tied to specific deals.

[ako]

Usually any impact a salesperson has over the product roadmap is too slow to have any impact on the sales opportunity.

Salespeople usually have more influence on the customers than on the roadmap, so they're better of trying to influence the decision making of the customer, than the product.

Salespeople focus on their sales targets, trying to change a product roadmap is not a very effective way to reach short term targets.

Obviously, a product manager should reach out to sales to try and understand their perspective on the product and the customer needs.

[ryandrake]

Depends on the company. I worked for a small company that was a real clown show. Sales would come down to the engineering area and say things like "I just closed a huuuuuuge sale for the company. We need a product that does A, B, and C, now so we can deliver it!" And, that became engineering's scope for the next 4 weeks...

[mongol]

Yes small companies commonly works like this. Basically, they hustle sales and the development team needs to cover for them.

[quadrifoliate]

Hey, I also worked at this company! (and left after 6 months)

[mathattack]

I’ve been at similar though 4 weeks would have been generous.

[ryandrake]

It would be 4 weeks because Sales told the customer that A, B, and C were already part of the product.