As a Product Manager, how do you handle tenured engineers who have strong opinions about product functionality but may not fully consider business and user needs?
Sort by:
Sometimes I use humor. One time, I had an engineer who was asked to secure something, he made it so secure no one could ever see it. He was technically right in meeting the security requirement but he missed the point of the larger system, where people did in fact need to see that piece of data. It can help them see that technically correct is not always correct in the larger context.
As a product manager, I faced the same situation and started taking one of my senior engineers to client meetings. It was the best decision as it gave them a morale boost and recognition while they became more involved in strategic planning. Talking to customers face-to-face made them focus on user needs before anything else. Thanks!
In my experience, it is helpful to give all engineers - quiet and outspoken - a meaningful opportunity to share views and concerns. When you ultimately make a decision (on the product, not tech) you must communicate it and explain the reasons behind it, and if possible back up with evidence. When you ship it, share feedback, revenue, data, etc to demonstrate your judgement was good and impact on the company, users etc. Building trust with your engineering team takes a lot of time and creativity. If there is another engineer you trust, you could also ask them for feedback and advice. A 121 with the engineer could also help.
That is a challenge. My experience has been that it's helpful to try teasing out their knowledge to inform the vision you or the business has. You sort of educate them on the other possibilities in the course to having them explain their design, and help them see that the design they maybe don't think of, is a more interesting problem to solve. Good developers love technical challenges, need to find how to help your developers find the "cool" aspect of the solution that better meets the business needs. It's not easy, and I've been hacking through this myself the last 2 months but have come to a great spot now, with some skilled devs with an insane depth of knowledge- it's a win for all.
As a Product Manager, handling tenured engineers with strong technical opinions requires a thoughtful, collaborative approach. I start by acknowledging their deep expertise and seek to understand the rationale behind their concerns, which are often rooted in long-term system stability or past experiences. I then reframe the discussion by aligning product decisions with user needs and business goals, using data, user feedback, or customer pain points to highlight the broader impact. Rather than dictating solutions, I involve them in co-creating alternatives that balance technical feasibility with user value. To avoid repeated misalignments, I rely on clearly defined product principles and maintain open, transparent communication. Ultimately, I focus on building trust, giving credit for engineering contributions, and creating a shared sense of ownership over outcomes.