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One of the cardinal sins a product manager can commit:
Shielding engineers from customers.
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Shielding engineers from customers.
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If sprint planning or feature breakdowns are the first time engineers see what theyâre building, youâve brought them in way too late.
If this feels familiar (for most people I speak to, it always hits close to home) then youâre sadly getting about 1/2 the value of your engineers.
Now donât get me wrong, some engineers really do just want to be told what to build and then left to determine how to build it.
But EMPOWERED engineers donât just want to write code. They want to solve customer problems. They want to have business impact.
But EMPOWERED engineers donât just want to write code. They want to solve customer problems. They want to have business impact.
To do this, you need them involved in ALL stages of the product life-cycle, not just delivery.
core reasons to involve engineers in product discovery:
1) The success of the product depends on engineering input to help define valuable, feasible solutions that customers will love, yet works for the business.
2) The context they get from just a small involvement in product discovery helps them do their jobs better in delivery. It actually increases their velocity, motivates them and helps them make implementation trade-off decisions.
Here are just 
very simple, non exhaustive activities you could do to better empower your engineers:
very simple, non exhaustive activities you could do to better empower your engineers:
1) bring them to customer interviews
2) Send screenshots of support tickets and user feedback.
3) Show them analytics dashboards on how what theyâve built is being used and itâs impact on the business.
2) Send screenshots of support tickets and user feedback.
3) Show them analytics dashboards on how what theyâve built is being used and itâs impact on the business.
Itâs amazing what happens when you give engineers a 
at the table and GENEROUSLY share customer and business context.
at the table and GENEROUSLY share customer and business context.
They will feel a fire in their belly.
Theyâll ask questions to a user interview participant on how we could improve the product.
Theyâll look at analytics charts and ask why a certain number is down.
Theyâll feel personally responsible for the customer and business outcome.
Theyâll ask questions to a user interview participant on how we could improve the product.
Theyâll look at analytics charts and ask why a certain number is down.
Theyâll feel personally responsible for the customer and business outcome.
And most often, theyâll come up with brilliant solutions.
Our engineers are a product teams single biggest source of innovation. They know the technology and whatâs possible better than anyone else.
Our engineers are a product teams single biggest source of innovation. They know the technology and whatâs possible better than anyone else.
Do not waste this incredible talent.
The success of your product rides on it.
The success of your product rides on it.
@cagan @shreyas I hope this is something youâll align with 
https://twitter.com/stevejocum/status/1327943585862279168
https://twitter.com/stevejocum/status/1327943585862279168
