The Importance of Effective and Clear Communication between the Product Managers and Software Engineers
The work of an engineer is to build a product. It is not common today for the Engineer to participate in Business Management decisions. This might be the reason why a product manager is essential to acquire business requirements and transmit them clearly to the Engineering team or Tech lead. The work of a product manager is to empower the engineers to build things by setting up comprehensive goals strategies and well defined initiatives. And this is the reason why there is an importance for good communication between the product manager and an engineer.
There may be times when both the Product and Engineering teams may underestimate one another. And that is when things start to go downhill. It is essential for the product managers to keep agile communication with the engineers they are working with, and also be in the good books of the software professionals. The first thing that they can do is treat the engineers as people and artists rather than just factory workers.
For every new project you come up with, you can start the assignment with a little briefing. Share your knowledge of the market, the business, the strategies, and the product delivery, thus by including them in the discussion effective communication can be achieved. This facilitates the engineers to glean valuable information about the market environment. This will also facilitate better communication between the product manager and the engineers. It removes the overall complexity of communication on the whole.
As a product manager, you can conduct the problem discovery sessions for the product story. In these sessions, you can discuss the issues with the team and organize a discussion on how the problems can be solved. With this, there will remain no doubts about the product story, and it will help cut down further complications. With any product, you can’t keep unrealistic expectations from the engineers.
It often happens that colleagues do not have a good understanding of product production time estimations, and often with high expectations, they underestimate other aspects. Sometimes there are modifications required in the product, so with excellent communication and a proper approach, you can tell the engineers what exactly is needed, because if the complete product needs to be revamped, it is a frustrating thing for the engineers.
Hence, there needs to be an equilibrium where the needs and the requirements of the customers must be taken into consideration before planning any product. Creating a work environment which facilitates creativity along with context will definitely ensure that the product quality is up to the mark. This will also bring about effective communication between the two parties involved.
