Working With Engineers

Jackie Bavaro, Head of Product Management, Asana

Jackie provides 4 keys to a healthy relationship between engineering and product management: Share Leadership and Credit Include Engineers in Product Decisions Clarify Roles and Reinforce them with Mutual Respect Clear Away Inefficiency and Help Your Teammates Succeed

Ken Norton, Partner, GV, Google

Ken explains the following principles on working with engineers by describing what it's like to experience the opposite of each: Deflect praise Absorb blame Sweat the details Involve them early Streamline process Always tell the reasons Never commit without them Respect their time Be specific Trust them (And finally…) Always bring the donuts

Felix Bauer, CTO, 3YOURMIND

Felix has been both a product manager and an engineer, and provides more tactical tips on how to communicate with engineers, including: 1. Negotiate about Details 2. Make a Glossary 3. Chunk Features 4. Have KickOffs with the Whole Team 5. Minimise Changing Requirements 6. Sync with other Product Managers and Designers 7. Avoid Maintaining a Backlog of Ideas 8. Highlight the Problem that you want to Solve 9. Communicate the Future 10. Identify Low-Hanging Fruits