Bridging the Gap: A Non-Engineer's Journey in Collaborating with Engineers

As a non-engineer, I know what it's like for someone to feel lost in a sea of technical terms and complex processes - that’s the sea in which we swim at Ocado Technology. I’ve collaborated with mechanical, electrical, and software engineers in aviation and technology and it has taken me a while to figure out how to collaborate in the best way. I can still remember my first day at Ocado Technology when I joined the “Journey in Collaborating with Engineers".

The team’s daily meeting… I was trying my best to listen to what was being said, but I couldn’t understand a word, so my brain was shutting down and I was thinking “You’re never going to make it here”.

Have you felt that way? The initial shock for me did not wear off for days and even weeks. Still, I never gave up. Day by day, meeting by meeting, I was learning a new language and ways of working with my engineers. And let me tell you a secret - there's no magic translate button, but I've learned a few tips along the way that I am here to share with you in this blog post.

Tip number one: I've had the pleasure of working with brilliant engineers who can do literally anything. They sometimes have the desire to over-engineer or over-automate, just because they can and because it is fun. This can be both a blessing and a challenge. But as product managers, it's our job to keep the Software Engineers focused on delivering value to the business and aligned with the company’s strategy. So, how do we balance the two?

The key to me is in harnessing their engineering drive and steering it in the right direction. An effective way to do this is to show the engineers the bigger picture and highlight the impact of their work on the business. They will be more motivated when they see the tangible results of their efforts, and understand how their work contributes to the success of the company. It is very easy for engineers to get wild and propose a new feature they are curious to develop and what has helped me a lot during such conversations is also quantifying the impact. Beware though! They can spark your passion for absolutely unnecessary features and that is when you have to cool down and think about the value a feature may bring.

A key factor is to get back to the business case and quantify the impact of each feature. This not only helps you with decision-making but also drives your engineering team to focus on the most important problems. Nobody wants to build something that won't have a real impact.

An example from my own experience was when we were developing automated diagnostics for our bots. We quantified the savings in minutes and frequency of usage and made this information available to our engineers. This not only helped them understand the value of their work but also motivated them to tackle the more complex development tasks.

Tip number two is to give engineers direct access to the users. This will increase engagement and will help foster empathy. Some people think product managers are the bridge between users and developers and that is 100% true. What has also become an absolute truth in my practice is that there is an engagement increase once I let my team of engineers cross that bridge themselves.

A while ago, we ran a Persona project in our department, doing extensive research and interviews with our customers. You can’t imagine the hype in the engineering community when they were doing interviews. They got direct proof that they were adding value and that people loved their work. Or had some ideas for improvement. This helped the engineers understand how their work is making a difference.

Another technique that I’ve often used with my engineers is to ask them to clarify details with users themselves, instead of me doing that. I could see the developers’ excitement when we were discussing the findings afterward and I could sense they had a genuine curiosity about our customers.

Tip number three
Engineering creativity is essential to product development. Engineers can see technical connections that are not always obvious to us non-engineers, so why not tap into that? When I was the PM of the diagnostics team, we would run sessions on strategy with the entire engineering team, to dream big and to list all the nitty gritty details needed to get to that dreamland. We would have an idea backlog that will go beyond the now and the next. My tip to you is that you encourage the engineers to share their ideas.

Don't limit your collaboration to engineering managers and team leaders only. The more diverse the group, the more "why” and "why not” questions will be asked, leading to more innovative solutions. I know it may be scary to show your roadmap to your team and anticipate their feedback. I was so scared the first time I did this with my team. But you know what? They listened, said what made sense and what didn’t and shared plenty of other ideas! When you do planning, show it to your engineers, let them know what is coming. They love working on new and exciting ideas and projects. Show them what’s ahead to start the sparkle inside them!

Be inclusive, when setting goals ask your developers not only for feedback, but to be part of the process. Negotiate with them and let them work on projects that interest them, as this can lead to improved communication and increased efficiency in other areas. By inspiring your engineers and encouraging them to believe in the future, you can ensure their work is aligned with the goals and strategies of the business.

A bonus tip
It's important to prioritise the well-being of your engineering team, including addressing technical debt. A lot of Product Managers tend to push technical debt at the end of the development queue - it is understandable, it just doesn't look so well at demos. We would normally choose the features with a cool interface or that have a strategic impact first, while the spaghetti in the code stays hidden and unresolved. Well, engineers themselves would not be very excited about taking on boring technical debt tickets. But you need to realise that technical debt makes your developers’ life hard and can impact motivation significantly. Most importantly, it impacts their productivity and can potentially lead to longer development time for the features.

This is what I learned from experience - I was ignoring some tech debt for months and I am not proud of that. Then the team came to me and said “this is not ok”. So, we sat down and came up with a plan. Don’t wait for your engineers to raise the topic themselves, be proactive and show them you care about their workplace. More importantly, be deliberate about your efforts to reduce technical debt. Gather your whole team to look at what you’ve got, and make a new lane in your backlog just for that. Maybe there are a lot of tickets with unresolved “to do”s, then commit that every sprint there will be X amount of time dedicated to closing them. Groom the technical debt as any other ticket, if it helps, make a separate session to discuss only them.

There’s one last tip that I’d like to give.
Nurturing a strong personal relationship with your engineering team is key to boosting their engagement and motivation. As a Product Manager, it's important to take the initiative to build and maintain a positive and supportive team environment. I started my journey at Ocado Technology during the pandemic, which meant working from home, limited gathering possibilities, and social distancing. Luckily, I was partnered with the most brilliant and fun engineers I could hope for, so the task was not hard. Nonetheless, it required effort on everybody’s side. It all started off with online drinks to break the ice, then the little jokes at dailies and face-to-face meetings and team buildings.

What really made the difference was that I was ready to listen and take action. Conversations during retros, complaints, and suggestions did not just stay within the meetings. There were follow-ups and updates, and the more I was doing that, the more engaged I could see my engineers become. Another key to higher engagement is giving credit whenever it is due. One important aspect of giving credit is to acknowledge the hard work and contributions of your engineers, whether through internal recognition programs like the Spotlight awards we have at Ocado Group or simply by sharing the spotlight during demos and presentations.

By recognizing and valuing the efforts of your engineering team, you show that you appreciate their work and contributions to the success of the product.

As I’ve shared my best practices of collaborating with engineers, I am hoping they may serve other Product Managers to excel in their roles. If you enjoyed my blog entry and would like to continue the discussion, you can find me on LinkedIn.

About the author:
Boryana Atanassova is a Group Product Manager based at Ocado Technology Sofia. With a background in aviation and a knack for business expansion, digitalization, and optimization, she's a Product Manager superstar. At Ocado Technology, she started as a Product Manager for bot diagnostics and worked her way up to Group Product Manager. Now, she's the bot queen, ensuring their seamless availability on our grids. Oh, and if you're a crime series fan, prepare to nerd out with her.