My name is Sean King,

About Me

I started in web design, grew into UI development, got pulled into UX, and then into product management and eventually leadership because each step kept revealing a bigger version of the same question: what do people actually need from this, and how do I build something that delivers it? That question has taken me through electronics distribution, workforce management, and telecom. Those are industries where nobody's impressed by the technology itself, they just need it to work, and when it doesn't, the consequences show up fast.

These days I'm still chasing that same question. I lead product work on the tools customers use to do business with service companies, I run a small consulting practice on the side called Human Context, and I write about working with AI and what building product looks like when the software is there to support the service. What I like most is getting into the middle of a mess and making something better out of what's already there.

Community

Every technology wave I've been through, the people doing the actual work are the last ones anyone teaches how to use the new tools, and a lot of what I've been figuring out about working with AI still isn't making it to the people who'd benefit most. That's a big part of why I co-lead the AI & Product sub-group of the Rocky Mountain AI Interest Group, where product people get together to talk through how they're actually using AI in their work.

I also give talks and lead panels on how AI is changing the way we work, especially now that UX and engineering and product are all starting to move toward building (which feels pretty familiar to me, since I came up through design and UI development before I ever ended up in product).

Somewhere along the way I also became someone product leaders come to when they want a second set of eyes on something (usually a roadmap they're not sure about, or a team that's grown faster than the way decisions get made). I've spent most of my career building product teams and the operating models that make them work, so I really enjoy those conversations.