What role do engineers have in planning which features you build in the sprint? How do I get buy-in without giving them control?

At a high-level, I usually like to think about the somewhat simplistic delineation that PMs decide ‘what’ to build, while engineers deliver the ‘how’. Ultimately, prioritization comes back to thinking about the ‘return on an engineering investment’. PMs provide the ‘return’ (i.e., user value), engineers help size the necessary investment. No feature can ever be properly prioritized without both sides of this equation. Getting buy-in from engineering usually comes from a deeper involvement and co ...Read More

Engineering plays a huge role in initiative planning, not in deciding what we build, but in shaping how we build it and what’s feasible. I involve them early in problem definition, sizing, and technical discovery. Some of the most elegant solutions I’ve seen have come from engineers who were part of the conversation before a solution was locked in. As a PM, I own the why and what — the priorities, the customer needs, the business goals. But I see the how as a space for collaboration. I’ll come i ...Read More

Generally, the engineering manager (EM) is more involved than the individual contributor (IC) engineers. First, before planning of individual features happen, I make sure the EM is involved and aligned when we are creating the product strategy of our team. Doing this makes getting alignment on individual features much easier because the engineering team knows what the higher level goals are and why we are going after those goals. I've found that in order to get buy in with engineering, I have to ...Read More

Engineers are part of your squad. They should be in the room for Problem Shaping, Live Prototyping, and Fresh Eyes. You should review your problem backlog regularly with your engineers and get their input and feedback. —Influence is the curiosity to get to the best solution— and engineers will undoubtedly think about things differently than you - leverage this to find the biggest problems and get to the best solutions. More about influence here: https://medium.com/@lizzymasotta/product-managemen ...Read More

Engineers should have a strong voice in both sprint and strategic planning. The key is creating the right environment for structured input, not handing over decision-making.PMs must first align the team on the business and customer needs behind the roadmap.Engineers should then weigh in on feasibility, design, and alternate approaches - they often see system-level efficiencies the PM may not have perspective on.Roadmaps also carry hidden costs like tech debt and test automation. If there’s no sp ...Read More

I’m a huge believer in transparency. Make your roadmap and decision process transparent. We use a weighted scoring algorithm where roadmap items (and ultimately supporting tickets) roll up into a prioritization rubrik. That prioritization methodology should be available to anyone in your company, including engineers. Make grooming a collaborative activity - let them weigh in on the scores you are giving to specific tickets. Argue with fact, not opinion. If you’re doing your job you will have the ...Read More

I'd suggest to begin with not thinking about this from a lens of "control" at all. Its very important that a PM builds a culture of shared strategy, shared goals and trust where all ideas are welcome and given their due consideration. So how do you do that? Include your team in the Goals and Strategy discovery for your area: Help them understand what is the full spread of items you considered and why did you select the few that you did. Even better, do it with them in a white boarding exercise o ...Read More

Hm. There appears to be an undercurrent of "us vs them" in your question, maybe this is intentional, but look at your inner beliefs on that to see if there's a negative bias towards engineers. What control are you unwilling to give up? And why? First ask: What do you control and what do the engineers control? I think about it in terms of what questions do the players solve. Product managers answer the why and the what: Why should we build this, and why now? What do we need to build? Engineers an ...Read More

Control is tricky word. product development is organized chaos with some rythm to it. I am not an expert in sprint planing, but engineers should Technical sounding board or everything that has been take in current one also have visibility to few sprint (when possible) to lay ground work for things that may require "architectural changes' Have objective critiera for selecting features and provide. visibility wherever you are using subjective discretion. communication is key Also clearly articulat ...Read More