What activities do you do to help set expectations between development and upper leadership?

For a visible project that has the attention of upper leadership, I think of 3 checkpoints with leadership: 1. Showcasing the vision at the beginning of the project Once I have nailed down the problem to solve, why it's important to solve, how it contributes to broader business goals, and you have an idea of how you want to solve it i.e. conceptual mocks - I present the vision for the project to get alignment with upper leaderships. While I'm getting this ready, I will make sure to keep my manag ...Read More

Setting clear expectations between development and leadership is one of the most important parts of my role as a PM. I see myself as the bridge — translating strategy into execution and execution back into strategy. A few things I consistently do: Upfront alignment on scope and goals: Before we start building, I make sure there’s shared clarity on what problem we’re solving, what success looks like, and what we’re not doing. This helps avoid surprises later. Shared timelines with context: I don’ ...Read More

Communicate, communicate and communicate more! We have a quarterly product strategy meeting where the PMs share their plans and the execs ask questions ahead of the work being done, so there's time for the PMs to go back with the engineers and designers to refine based on any course corrections. We keep a set of artifacts available - a product roadmap and a product staraegy doc that have the details of what we're working on. We document a lot of our conversations in Notion and these are availabl ...Read More

Representing your team to leadership is a core responsibility of a Product Manager. That starts with generating clear alignment on business goals and product requirements early, setting realistic timelines up front, and maintaining consistent communication throughout the product life cycle. This should be explicit alignment - don't assume you are on the same page from a hallway conversation. No project goes perfectly, so it’s important to share objective and proactive updates on the progress and ...Read More

“Managing up” is core to being a successful PM given how front and centre product development is for a business to grow.  “Communication with the right level of detail” is key to making these communications meaningful. When communicating, expectations need to be set both in terms of projects in flight as well as new opportunity areas as they surface up.  For projects in execution:  1. A progress check in in how the committed projects are progressing - this can be a monthly discussion forum so th ...Read More

As a product manager, I focus on several key activities to bridge the gap between development and upper leadership: Roadmap Alignment and Communication: ensure the product roadmap clearly reflects the company's strategic goals and is communicated effectively to both teams. This involves regular updates, highlighting progress, and addressing any potential shifts. Metric-Driven Reporting: use key performance indicators (KPIs) to demonstrate the impact of development efforts. By tying features and ...Read More

Setting clear and realistic expectations between development teams and leadership is key to the success of any product development team. Here are some strategies I use to help set expectations effectively: Clearly articulate goals, timelines, and challenges. Regularly update leadership on progress and any deviations from the plan. Ensure that development goals align with the broader business objectives. Help leadership understand how the development work contributes to the company's overall succ ...Read More

Be transparent and over-communicate. Clear expectations between development teams and upper leadership are crucial for alignment and stakeholder satisfaction. Establish a Communication Plan: Set a schedule for project status updates and adhere to it. Keep updates concise and actionable. If there are risks to the schedule with mitigation plans in place, communicate them upfront. When needing leadership intervention or decision-making, request it directly. Actively Seek Feedback and Alignment: Req ...Read More