How to make engineers do what you tell them to do. Or more to the point: how to get engineers to do what they tell you to do, and how to make them do it. Here’s a ten-step plan for working with engineers that has earned me a place among the three greatest product managers of all time
Absorb praise
Be vigilant when being celebrated, you are the one who is being celebrated and you deserve all of the glory
- Expect your successes to be recognized, take credit, and enjoy the attention
- You are polishing your own LinkedIn profile, not theirs
Never tell the reasons
Maintain an air of mystery when decisions are made to keep them on their toes
Interrupt at any time
Whatever an engineer is working on is less important than what you need right now
They’re always lying
Nothing in engineering is impossible if you set your mind to it.
- Assume a software engineer is always deceiving you and act accordingly
- When you hear terms like “technical debt” or “working from home,” you’ll be ready to call their bluff.
Involve them late
Bring them in once all of the strategizing and synergizing is done and all that’s left is the programming.
Afterword
Strive for the opposite
- Deflect praise
- Absorb blame
- Sweat the details
- Involve them early
- Streamline process
- Always tell the reasons
- Never commit without them
- Respect their time
- Be specific
- Trust them
Add process
Schedule update meetings, daily briefings, and all-day reviews
Commit for them
Show your ambition by committing to project schedules without consulting your team.
Deflect Blame
Make sure to redirect accusations when they are aimed at you, and to preemptively sow blame whenever possible.
- Always remember: there is no “we” in me. There is only “I”
- When something goes wrong, blame the person(s) responsible.
Don’t bother with the details
You can’t change the world if you know what’s hard and what’s easy.
- Anything you imagine can’t be done in ten lines of code is likely to be ten, and it doesn’t matter which ten.
Be ambiguous
Aim to be as vague and imprecise as possible
