What Product Managers Do That Annoys Engineers Most

TL;DR

The biggest thing engineers resent is PMs hoarding credit, since PMs are the front-facing voice for initiatives and can take glory for work engineers did. The best PMs talk least and let engineers present. Engineers also want to understand the business and customer problem, so involve them in ideation.

Transcript

I'm curious what it is that PMs  do that annoy engineers most. Hoarding credit. PMs, they tend to be  the front-facing person for initiative. Engineers sometimes think that they don't  get the credit for their work because the PM   takes all the glory and all the credit for the  project that they really worked very hard on. I find the best PMs are ... Read More

Key Insights

• Hoarding credit is the easiest annoyance to fix. Because PMs are the front-facing person for initiatives, engineers feel the PM takes all the glory for projects they worked hard on. Credit-sharing and letting engineers speak about their contributions solves it.
• The best PMs are the ones who talk the least and encourage other people to do the presenting, giving the engineering team opportunities to speak about their own contributions rather than absorbing all the visibility themselves.
• Acting like technical details don't matter shows a lack of empathy. Engineering done successfully is all about the details, so dismissiveness like 'just tell me when you can get this done' is very off-putting to engineers, even when some details truly don't matter.
• Playing telephone wastes everyone's time. When a PM relays questions between askers and engineers without understanding the answers, they become a middle-person, which particularly drives senior engineers on projects crazy.
• Hoarding ideas backfires. When PMs want to own every product idea and detail, engineers seek a creative outlet elsewhere, obsessing over frameworks and technical choices that may not matter for product delivery.
• Quashed creativity predicts over-engineering. Camille says she can almost always predict engineers building unnecessary things in places where their voice in the business or product is so ignored that technology choices become their only outlet.
• Engineers want to understand the business and customer problem. A common wrong assumption is that engineers just write code, so PMs should not underestimate their desire to engage with the underlying problems.
• The best PMs are not threatened by other people having ideas or by the engineering team being full of smart people, because they recognize that as an asset rather than a challenge to their role.

Questions & Answers

Q: What do product managers do that annoys engineers most?

According to Camille Fournier, the top annoyances are hoarding credit, acting like technical details don't matter, playing telephone by relaying questions they don't understand, and hoarding all the product ideas for themselves. Hoarding credit is the easiest to fix because PMs are the front-facing person for initiatives, talking to customers and executives, which makes engineers feel their hard work goes unrecognized when the PM takes all the glory.

Q: How can a PM stop hoarding credit from engineers?

Make every effort to be credit-sharing and inclusive of the engineering team, giving engineers the opportunity to speak about their own contributions when it makes sense. Camille says the best PMs are the ones who talk the least and encourage other people to do the presenting. The message to convey is that the work is not just the PM's, since a lot of work has to go into a project from many people.

Q: Why does it annoy engineers when PMs ignore technical details?

Engineering done successfully really is all about the details. When a PM acts like details don't matter, doesn't care about them, and just wants to know when something will be done or why it takes so long, it shows a real lack of empathy for the work engineers are doing. Camille says this can be very off-putting, though she acknowledges some details genuinely don't matter and PMs need patience in those cases.

Q: What is playing telephone and why do engineers dislike it?

Playing telephone is when a PM is asked questions they cannot answer because they lack the technical detail, so they turn around, ask engineers, take whatever the engineers say, especially when they don't really understand it, and relay it back to the original asker. This middle-person scenario is a waste of time for everyone. Camille says managers of all stripes do it, but it particularly drives senior engineers on projects crazy.

Q: Why do engineers over-engineer things when PMs hoard ideas?

When PMs want to own every product idea and detail, engineers feel they need to take control of something and want a creative outlet. So they use their engineering skills as that outlet, spending a lot of time obsessing over the right framework or technical approach that may not actually matter much for product delivery. Taking people out of the creative loop pushes them to find creativity elsewhere, which is bad for the product.

Q: Why do engineers want to rewrite systems and use new frameworks?

Camille says this often happens when engineers' creativity for the actual business or product is quashed and their voice in that space is so ignored that they have no outlets there. They then use the space where they do have control, which is usually the technology choices and technical details. She says she can basically always predict engineers building unnecessary things in exactly these situations where their product voice is ignored.

Q: What is a common misconception about what motivates engineers?

A lot of people assume that engineers just write code, but Camille says you should not underestimate the ability of your engineers to want to understand the business problem and the customer problem. Engineers get excited by engaging with these underlying problems, not only by writing code. Recognizing this motivation and involving engineers in understanding the broader goals helps PMs work more effectively with their engineering teams.

Q: What do the best product managers do well when working with engineers?

The product managers who have done the best are not threatened by other people having ideas, and they are not threatened by the engineering team being full of smart people, because they realize that is valuable. Rather than hoarding ideas and credit, they involve engineers in ideation and prioritization, share visibility, and respect technical details. This inclusive approach keeps engineers creatively engaged in the product rather than redirecting that energy into unnecessary technical work.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Camille Fournier, author of The Manager's Path, identifies what PMs do that most annoys engineers. The first and easiest to fix is hoarding credit: because PMs are front-facing with customers and executives, engineers feel their hard work goes unrecognized. Making every effort to share credit and let engineers speak resolves this.

• A deeper annoyance is PMs acting like technical details don't matter. Engineering done well is all about the details, and dismissiveness signals a lack of empathy. A third issue is playing telephone, relaying questions between askers and engineers without understanding, which wastes time and frustrates senior engineers most.

• The final annoyance is hoarding ideas. When PMs claim every product idea, engineers redirect their creativity into over-engineering technology choices. The best PMs are not threatened by smart engineers or others' ideas, and they involve engineers in ideation, recognizing engineers want to understand the business and customer problem.