Resolve Product-Engineering Tension | A Proven AI Prompt for General for engineering managers | Engify.ai
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You are mediating a conflict between Product and Engineering. Generate a structured resolution plan:

**Conflict Context:**
- Product Lead: [Name]
- Engineering Lead: [Name/You]
- Issue Type: [Scope creep / Missed deadlines / Quality vs Speed / Communication / Priorities / Other]
- Project: [What project is this about?]
- Stakeholder Impact: [Who's being affected?]

**Current Tension:**
- Product's complaint: [e.g., "Engineering is too slow and says no to everything"]
- Engineering's complaint: [e.g., "Product keeps changing requirements and doesn't understand technical complexity"]

**Generate a resolution framework:**

## 1. Diagnose the Root Cause

**Common Patterns:**

**Symptom: "Engineering is too slow"**
- Root cause: Unrealistic expectations? Tech debt? Poor estimation? Scope creep?

**Symptom: "Product keeps changing requirements"**
- Root cause: Unclear strategy? Customer feedback loop? Market pressure?

**Symptom: "We don't respect each other's expertise"**
- Root cause: Communication breakdown? Past conflicts? Lack of trust?

**Your Diagnosis:**
- Primary issue: [What's really going on?]
- Contributing factors: [What makes this worse?]
- Trigger events: [What sparked this tension now?]

## 2. Joint Problem-Solving Session (90 mins)

**Pre-Work (Send Before Meeting):**
- Each side prepares: "What we need from the other team to be successful"
- Focus on needs, not blame

**Opening (10 mins):**
"We're here to make Product + Engineering partnership stronger. We're on the same team - we both want to ship great products for users. Let's find a better way to work together."

**Ground Rules:**
- Assume positive intent
- We're solving a process problem, not assigning blame
- Focus on future, not rehashing past
- Both sides have valid constraints and concerns

**Each Side Presents (15 mins each):**

**Product Perspective:**
- Business constraints and pressures
- User needs and market timing
- What's hard about working with Engineering
- What would help

**Engineering Perspective:**
- Technical constraints and reality
- Quality and velocity tradeoffs
- What's hard about working with Product
- What would help

**Find Common Ground (15 mins):**
- "What do we agree on?"
- Shared goals: User value, business impact, sustainable pace, team health
- "We're both under pressure and doing our best"

**Root Cause Analysis (15 mins):**
- "Why does this keep happening?"
- Process gaps: Planning? Communication? Expectations?
- People gaps: Trust? Understanding? Respect?

**Co-Create Solutions (25 mins):**
- "What would great Product-Eng partnership look like?"
- Brainstorm concrete changes
- Prioritize top 3-5 improvements

**Action Plan (10 mins):**
- Write down specific agreements
- Assign owners and deadlines
- Schedule follow-up (2 weeks)

## 3. Common Solutions by Issue Type

**Issue: Scope Creep / Changing Requirements**

**Solutions:**
- Agree on "Requirements Freeze Date" before each sprint
- After freeze: New requests → next sprint (unless P0 incident)
- Product writes clear acceptance criteria up front
- Engineering reviews before committing to sprint

**Process:**
- [ ] Create template for requirements (GIVEN/WHEN/THEN, edge cases, scope)
- [ ] Set up weekly roadmap review (look ahead 3 sprints)
- [ ] PM attends sprint planning to answer questions

**Issue: Missed Deadlines / "Engineering is Slow"**

**Solutions:**
- Involve Engineering earlier in scoping (before committing dates)
- Break down epics into smaller, shippable increments
- Reserve 20% capacity for unknowns and tech debt
- Communicate blockers earlier

**Process:**
- [ ] Introduce RFC process for large projects (Engineering estimates complexity)
- [ ] Weekly PM-EM sync on project health (traffic lights: green/yellow/red)
- [ ] Retrospective after each major release (what slowed us down?)

**Issue: Quality vs Speed Tradeoffs**

**Solutions:**
- Define "quality bar" explicitly (when is it good enough to ship?)
- Agree on MVP vs. full-featured version up front
- Engineering proposes phased rollout if quality concerns

**Process:**
- [ ] Create quality checklist (security, performance, UX, edge cases)
- [ ] PM and EM jointly decide: MVP now or full-featured later?
- [ ] Track technical debt in backlog, pay it down 20% of sprints

**Issue: Communication Breakdown**

**Solutions:**
- Daily standup for project team (PM + Eng + Design)
- Shared Slack channel for project
- PM shadows Engineering for a day, Eng shadows PM meetings

**Process:**
- [ ] Weekly 30-min PM-EM sync (before sprint planning)
- [ ] Monthly PM All-Hands (Engineering invited to understand roadmap)
- [ ] Quarterly PM-Eng offsites (build relationships)

## 4. Explicit Working Agreements

**Create a "PM-Eng Partnership Charter":**

**What Product Commits To:**
- Requirements ready 2 days before sprint planning
- Attend sprint planning and daily standups
- Respond to Engineering questions within 4 hours
- Accept Engineering's complexity estimates
- Shield team from thrash during sprint

**What Engineering Commits To:**
- Involve PM in technical decisions that affect scope/timeline
- Communicate blockers immediately, not at sprint review
- Propose solutions, not just say "no"
- Meet commitments or communicate early if at risk
- Keep technical jargon to minimum in updates

**Shared Commitments:**
- No surprises - communicate bad news early
- Assume positive intent
- Disagree and commit once decision is made
- Celebrate wins together

## 5. Ongoing Maintenance

**Weekly (Every Sprint):**
- [ ] PM-EM 30-min sync (health check, look ahead)
- [ ] Project status update (Slack or doc)

**Monthly:**
- [ ] Review working agreements (still working?)
- [ ] Celebrate what went well
- [ ] Address small issues before they become big

**Quarterly:**
- [ ] PM-Eng retrospective (what's better? what's not?)
- [ ] Update partnership charter if needed
- [ ] Plan team-building activity

## 6. When to Escalate

**Escalate to Directors/VPs if:**
- Conflict persists after 4-6 weeks of trying
- Impacting multiple projects/teams
- People issues (personality conflicts) not process issues
- Need organizational change (headcount, priorities, structure)

**How to Escalate:**
- Present problem and what you've tried
- Recommend solution (team change, process change, etc.)
- Ask for specific help, not vague "fix this"

## 7. Sample Phrases for Mediation

**To Validate Both Sides:**
- "You're both right - Product needs speed and Engineering needs quality. Let's find the balance."
- "I understand Product's pressure from leadership, and Engineering's concern about tech debt."

**To Redirect from Blame:**
- "Let's focus on the process gap, not who's at fault"
- "We're all trying our best with the information we have"

**To Find Solutions:**
- "What would need to be true for this to work for both teams?"
- "If you could change one thing, what would most help?"

**To Hold Accountable:**
- "We've agreed on these changes. Let's try for 2 weeks and review"
- "If this isn't working, we'll adjust. But let's give it a real shot."

**Tone:**
- Neutral facilitator, not picking sides
- Optimistic about solutions
- Firm about accountability
- Collaborative, not authoritative
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