Companies often see their product and engineering teams compete instead of working together effectively. This lack of synergy causes a lack of trust and not rare scenarios where everyone, sooner or later, points fingers at others, thus slowing down the general development process. However, not only does the commitment of trust become the solution, but it also opens up the road to an easy and efficient work process and, consequently, promotes a friendly working environment.
Proven Strategies for Better Collaboration
To solve this problem, a few commonly accepted and efficient methods can improve the relationship between product and engineering teams:
- Cross-Functional Teams: Combine product managers, engineers, and critical stakeholders into coherent teams. This way, they can thrash out the problems and understand what the staff has in mind.
- WIP (Work in Progress) Limits: By restricting the number of ongoing tasks, teams can focus better and make small and frequent significant progress. This increases trust and progress.
- Trio Amigos: It involves a product manager, a developer, and a quality analyst right from the start. This way, all viewpoints can be considered, so the discussions are not circular, and there are clear understandings.
- Continuous Deployment: This practice involves regular deployment, which is the way to go because it will be possible to make regular updates on and improve the product. This way, the product can constantly be enhanced, and the feedback received immediately can catalyze a new culture toward consistent improvement.
- Retrospectives: It is a good practice to regularly reflect on what's going well and what's not. Continuous discussions can still address and deal with problems.
The Challenge of Change
Despite these proven strategies, many companies need help with the same issues. So, what's holding them back?
- Change is tough. It is always challenging to change established processes. Even though teams may not be satisfied with their existing workflows, they may still be averse to change.
- Ignorance: Some companies may have never heard of these methods or benefitted from them. Education and spreading the word are essential.
- Local Culture of Blame and Misunderstanding: The company's culture is central. The case against a blame and mistrust culture could be intense; shifting to a more cooperative mindset would need to be gradual and carefully conducted.
- Limited resources: Introducing new strategies necessitates resources such as time, training, and occasionally financial investment that could pose difficulties for some companies.
Moving Ahead
Companies should prioritize establishing good rapport with each other and being open to adopting new methods that improve alliances between product and engineering teams. For example, Crosslake Technologies implemented cross-functional teams, WIP limits, Trio Amigos, continuous deployment, and regular retrospectives. After implementation, it boosted productivity by 27% and decreased development time by 33%.
Then why wait?
The time to work on a more collaborative future is right now. As an engineer, product manager, or person holding a key stake in the project's success, you can champion change and fix current problems between your product and engineering teams. The future is in your hands, and with these strategies, you can curb negative factors, and the way becomes clear for innovation and efficiency.
Top comments (4)
In my experience, the problems usually stem from hiring product team members that have no technical background. I'm not saying they have to be fantastic engineers or anything, but a good understanding of what goes on during development, and what is and isn't possible will go a long way to improve communication and teamwork.
Hm this is good for Eng Managers.
Product guys manage opportunities.
They do not manage dev teams, but provide compass data where we should go based on the feedback from the market analyze and last customers feedback.
I know that, but the problems arise generally when they have no tech background and cannot effectively communicate with developers / developer managers and vice versa.
I forgot to mention a big thank you for your comment!
In my experience, I implement cross-functional teams and "three amigos" sessions to help engineers understand the product management process. Additionally, I utilize continuous delivery with a minimum viable change of two days to integrate product managers into the engineering process.
This approach enables the team to work together seamlessly with proactive problem-solving strategies.