😎 Product teams working with developers

Product Managers Working With Developers

If Product Managers and Software Developers work toward the same goal, why do they find it so hard to work with each other? Maybe they have different thoughts about how to achieve their goals. It could be because they haven’t clearly identified their expectations of each other. Or, maybe they just never hit it off. Whatever the reason, the PM-developer relationship is essential for effective product development, so it’s worth the effort to make that relationship as strong as possible. Here are some ideas on how you can make that happen.

Why product managers shouldn’t spoon-feed developers priorities. Many PMs think their job is to manage everything that developers do. That’s not true. Product managers fill a portion of the development pipeline, while other teams–such as Quality Assurance (QA) and Development Operations (DevOps)–are responsible for other portions. Janna Bastow goes through what kind of tasks fill the development pipeline, who’s in charge of them, the proper allocation of the dev pipeline, and how PMs can help define these workflows and focus on their own objectives.

(via @ProdPad)
 

How to help software developers and PMs like each other. Software developers and product managers are often at odds with each other. Each sometimes has different plans for achieving goals, which creates conflict. While some conflict can be healthy, you don’t want fundamental disagreements surrounding what the product team is trying to accomplish. Malte Scholz looks at why software developers and product managers struggle to work together, and how to empower them to overcome these obstacles and align their work.

(via @shortcut)

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They fixed the glitch

We all may like to think our software is infallible. Sure, there may be bugs that pop up from time to time… but those bugs won’t do real damage. They can’t, let’s say, bring down every single flight in the United States. Right?

Well… maybe that can’t happen with your software. But it did happen with the FAA this week. 

In a pretty unprecedented move, the FAA was forced to ground all domestic flights due to a “glitch” disabling their NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) program. This program is critical for pilots to be aware of potential safety issues while flying. 

Eventually, they fixed… the glitch (Office Space reference, anyone), but the domino effect of the systems being down ended up causing delays and cancellations throughout the entire day. 

Obviously, it’s an embarrassing moment for the FAA. Supposedly, the cause of the fiasco was a single engineer replacing one file and bringing the entire system down. But it begs the question…

Why and how could a single engineer’s action take down an entire system like this?

I’m sure that the FAA is diving deep into this. But it’s probably a good reminder for all of us to really go through our code and systems. Could one mistake by an engineer bring down your entire product? If so… it may be time to come up with some new systems. 

How top product managers work with engineers. Product managers are the center of a company’s efforts to build and monetize products. They usually work with multiple stakeholders at once, and one of the most important stakeholders they work with is engineers. Software (and hardware) engineers are the real builders and executors. They turn mock-ups and plans into usable, functional products. Without engineers, the entire company would fail. Shehab Beram helps PMs understand engineers’ responsibilities and how to collaborate with them for product success.

(via @LogRocket)

A product manager’s guide to working with engineers. As Debbie Widjaja matured in her understanding of product management, she realized that trying to keep all engineers happy is a sure way to be a miserable PM. A product manager should be a multiplier of the engineering resources. To quote Liz Wiseman: Multipliers are the leaders who use their intelligence to amplify the smarts and capabilities of the surrounding people. Debbie created an acronym - ARISE - to describe how she works with engineers.

(via @DebbieWidjaja)
 

Top 10 things that developers expect from product managers. The product-development relationship is quite important in the world of software development. Utkarsha Bakshi shares the top 10 expectations of a developer from a product manager to create a healthy product and relationship amongst them.

(via @utkarshabakshi)