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Advice for how PMs should work with engineers. A thread.
Engineers naturally have a lot of design discussions about technical details. As a PM, your job is to ensure everyone is thinking about the impact on the user.
It's easy to get intimidated when folks are deep in the weeds and everyone seems to understand it.
As a PM, your job is not to understand the details. You just need to understand enough so your team can build the right product.
It's actually quite helpful for the team to think about why they are making code changes.
Is it a new feature? If so, why does it matter?
Or, is it reducing tech debt? If so, what is the impact on velocity?
Is it a new feature? If so, why does it matter?
Or, is it reducing tech debt? If so, what is the impact on velocity?
As a PM, if you try to hard to learn these answers yourself, you're not helping your team be more product focused.
Ideally, every engineer -- particularly senior engineers -- will understand the product impact of every change.
Ideally, every engineer -- particularly senior engineers -- will understand the product impact of every change.
By staying out of the weeds, you'll help your team learn product skills. This is good for the product, and good for the team's skills.
So, product managers: it's ok if you're ignorant of the details. It's not your job, and you can always ask the right questions to get the information you need.
(Note: by "PM" I mean product manager.)
