Communication Patterns between Engineering and Product
Even the strongest product and engineering relationships encounter some hurdles. In this article, I will list a few of the common ones. I am not giving you solutions, because each situation is different, but rather I will help you jog your memory to find the best stories for that often feared interview question ”Tell me about a time you had a disagreement with your engineering partner.“
Here are just a few examples:
Engineering doesn’t want to try to the great new idea you have because it involve technical risk. Cutting off discussions of your idea before they get started.
Engineering partner speaks over you in meetings.
Engineering partner gives you a bad review because your requirements documents lack crucial details.
Your engineering partner doesn’t support your ideas.
Your engineering partner is mad and you don’t know why at first. You eventually find out that they need to impress their leadership at your expense.
Your engineering partner doesn’t trust your idea (and it turns out to that the previous PM didn’t get the right buy-in before proposing the same thing that failed.)
The list goes on…
While the list was long, there are several patterns emerging. They are:
Trust
Risk Appetite
Politics (known & unknown)
Ownership Concerns
History
Prioritization Alignment
If you can identify these patterns, you can come up with an introclusion and own the problem upfront.
Don’t Ramble
What most people do is think about the problem. Expalin the setup as they think out loud about the real problem. Only after rambling for a bit to they finally get to the lesson learned: A lack of trust and the necessary path to rebuild that trust.
As a PM any disagreeement is yours to own and solve, even if you didn’t cause it. That is what you need to establish before you start rambling.