Working With People

Product managers, designers, stakeholders and the engineers next to you: how to write for people who will not read past the first line, disagree and still commit, run a demo that changes a decision, and give feedback that lands.

Working With a Product Manager

The PM owns the why and the priority; you bring the cost curve, the smaller version and the question behind the ticket — and when there is no PM, you say out loud which of their jobs you are now doing.

Q · What does an engineer bring to a product manager that the PM cannot get from anyone else?
Working With Design

Tell the designer which part is expensive and why, in their terms, and offer the version that keeps the intent — before the mockup is signed off, not in week two of the build.

Q · When a design is expensive to build, how do you keep what it was for without building all of it?
Writing for Stakeholders

The first line is the decision you need or the thing that changed for them; everything after it is optional reading for whoever wants the detail.

Q · If someone reads only the first line of your update, what must they know?
Disagree and Commit

Disagree once, in writing, before the decision; then build it as if it were yours, and agree in advance what would show which of you was right.

Q · Once a decision you argued against is made, what do you owe it?
Running a Demo That Ends With a Decision

A demo exists to get a decision, not applause: show the path a real customer takes, ask the one question you need answered, and leave out everything that does not bear on it.

Q · What decision should the room make by the end of your demo?
Feedback in Both Directions

Feedback that lands is specific, about the work rather than the person, and says what effect it had — and you ask for it the same way: about one piece of work, with one concrete question.

Q · How do you give feedback someone can act on, and get feedback that is more than "looks good"?