How do you convey the importance of product management to engineering leaders who have never worked with product managers?

A great product manager starts not by convincing people of value, but by listening and exploring problems faced by their customers and team members.  So, start with understanding what challenges your partners are facing - they can range from engineering-specific issues to business performance. Pick a few of these problems that seem approachable and explore them deeply, partnering closely with the people on the team responsible for them.  Then deliver an improvement. It does not have to be a comp ...Read More

Product Manager position could be optional. A team building a software product will have someone fulfilling a product manager role either way. Who will take accountability for the market success of team’s work? Who will deeply understand the market, the customer and their pain worth solving? Who will fight for the team inside of the organization to acquire needed resources and to defend existing? Who will be a “PR manager” building team’s brand inside of the organization? Who will detect early l ...Read More

I wouldn’t start by trying to sell product management. I’d start with a roadshow. Sit down with engineering leaders and do two things: Explain how you think about product, so what you do, how you work, where you add value More importantly, understand their world and where are they feeling pain today? Are priorities constantly shifting? Are they getting unclear requirements? Are they building things that don’t get used? Are they stuck translating between stakeholders? If product management can’t ...Read More

PMs are able to help engineers with: talking to all different types of customers and prospects, so that we constantly have informed/holistic insights into most impactful problems we should be solving for our target customer taking the set of problems we have to solve, strategically sequencing them (roadmap), and pitching this to leaders internally to ensure buy-in + resources to fund this work take the lead on solutioning - working with engineering, product design, content design, user research, ...Read More

I have never worked for a company that didn't have product managers. However, if I were in a position where I needed to convey the importance of product management to engineering leaders unfamiliar with the role, I would focus on a few key points. First, I would explain the role of the product manager as the person responsible for the vision and roadmap of the product. While developer tools benefit greatly from the hands-on experience and insights of engineers, the product manager looks at the p ...Read More

Rare is the engineering leader today who has never worked with product managers. The issue is that sometimes they misunderstand what modern product management looks like: it's not (primarily) about project management, it's not about prioritizing every single thing that engineering is working on, and it certainly isn't about being accountable for engineering's own delivery accuracy. These values and beliefs may be a surprise to some engineering leaders, and it's natural for them to push back if t ...Read More

I’ve definitely been in this situation—where the engineering leader is sharp, experienced, and maybe even skeptical about what value a PM adds. And honestly? I start with empathy. If they’ve never worked with a strong PM, their default assumption might be:“I already talk to customers. I already know what to build. What’s the PM doing that’s not duplicative?” So instead of jumping into a job description, I try to show them how a great PM actually makes their job easier. Here's how I frame it: “Yo ...Read More

Show-and-Tell:  Start with a small, well-defined project where a PM can work closely with an engineer or two to demonstrate the value of the role and achieve some early wins. Share the impact of these wins with the wider team. For example, a feature improvement or a customer problem resolution can demonstrate a win for both the team and the business. Demonstrate Value to Engineering:  Beyond showcasing the overall value a PM brings, clearly demonstrate and communicate the specific benefits to th ...Read More