Back to Basics: Ravneet Uberoi on How to Work with Engineering - Build with Maggie Crowley Recap

Podcast: Build with Maggie Crowley

Published: 2021-03-12

Duration: 18 min

Guests: Ravneet Uberoi

Summary

Ravneet Uberoi emphasizes the importance of building strong, collaborative relationships between product managers and engineering teams. She shares strategies for fostering teamwork, including personalized one-on-ones and shared demos to align on project goals.

What Happened

Ravneet Uberoi shares her initial challenges in working with engineering teams, highlighting the daunting experience of pitching ideas and receiving blank stares. She emphasizes the importance of immersing oneself with the team, understanding their interests and motivations to build effective relationships.

To overcome initial barriers, Ravneet adopted a personalized approach, engaging in one-on-ones with each engineer to understand them individually. She also organized regular team lunches and stayed present with the engineering team to foster a sense of unity and collaboration.

Ravneet highlights the effectiveness of transforming meetings into conversations rather than presentations, promoting two-way communication. She introduced weekly demos where both engineering and product shared their progress, ensuring that the team felt valued and involved.

Uberoi stresses the importance of bringing substantial data and customer stories to discussions, enabling informed decision-making and building trust. She believes that product managers should actively seek engineers' input, making them feel integral to the decision-making process.

She shares her approach of discussing ideas early with engineering and design directors, valuing their initial reactions to refine concepts collaboratively. This approach turns idea development into an iterative process, ensuring everyone is invested from the start.

Ravneet discusses the importance of recognizing when engineers are engaged, such as when they debate solutions vigorously. A lack of debate signifies potential disengagement, prompting the need for reevaluation of team dynamics.

The episode concludes with Ravneet sharing insights on career development, noting that strong relationships with engineering teams are crucial for a PM's growth. She also highlights the importance of kindness and compassion over trying to be the smartest person in the room.

Key Insights

• Transforming meetings into conversations rather than presentations can enhance team engagement and communication. Weekly demos where both engineering and product teams share progress help ensure all members feel valued and involved.
• Regular one-on-one meetings with engineers can help product managers understand individual motivations and foster better relationships, which can lead to improved collaboration and team cohesion.
• Bringing substantial data and customer stories to discussions can facilitate informed decision-making and build trust within engineering teams. Actively seeking engineers' input makes them feel integral to the decision-making process.
• Vigorous debate among engineers is a sign of engagement, while a lack of debate may indicate disengagement and the need to reevaluate team dynamics. Recognizing these signals can help maintain a motivated and effective team.