How can you build a strong relationship with your product development team?

Simple. Talk to them. Take them to the pub. Buy coffee. Share customer comments. Come on people, it isn't that hard. Communicate.

The overlap between product marketing and product can often be murky. Spend time with your product partners to define the lines of separation. There always needs to be a balance between organizational design and building roles around the people on the team. Have open and honest conversations about each other's strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, etc. From there, divide and conquer on goals and KPIs. I think having defined metrics each person owns is important as well as overlap to align incentives. In this process, it is also important to set KPIs that may be antagonistic. As a example, balancing sales and operational capacity to deliver on the deals closed.

The magic happens when product development and marketing work hand-in-hand as 'two in a box.' As the marketing voice in this dynamic duo, your role is pivotal in bringing value, specifically by expressing the voice of the customer. Remember, the more information and detailed examples you bring to the table, the more your inputs will be valued.

One key thing to do is to engage and motivate the development team by giving a purpose, and the empowerment to find their own solutions. In practice: (1) don't go to them with the precise product specifications to develop ("what to do"), but with the customer problem to solve and all the business background information ("why we have to do something, and for whom"); (2) let developers propose alternative technical solutions, and engage them in concepts validations with real customers.

To build a strong relationship with your product development team, start by establishing regular and open communication channels. Actively listen to their ideas, challenges, and feedback. Show appreciation for their expertise and contributions, and involve them in setting realistic goals and timelines. Share customer insights and market data to collaboratively inform product strategies. Facilitate a problem-solving environment where everyone’s input is valued. Encourage and participate in team-building and professional development opportunities. Lastly, advocate for their needs and celebrate shared successes to foster a supportive and motivated team atmosphere.

Understanding your team and how they like to communicate is essential to get this right. For example, more often than not, engineers are going to want to communicate asynchronously. This enables them to get into flow and stay there, which is the most effective use of their time. Same thing goes for other teammates. Are they better verbal processors or want to write down their thoughts ahead of time? Do they want all the information upfront or do they want to go over it together on a call? Tailoring your communication style to your team is important, but it's also important to know when to break these cadences. How often have you sent Slack messages back and forth for hours when you could have resolved the problem in a 10 second zoom?

If people really feel that you listen to them and talk to them as a group and individually you get more probabilities of success Use short messages that can be clear understandable by everyone

You need to agree on a communication plan that works for both: what information you need, how often, in what format, who is responsible for it.

Building a stronger relationship with your product development team involves fostering open communication, understanding their challenges, and providing support. Regular meetings, clear expectations, and recognizing achievements can also contribute to a more collaborative environment.

A question you often have to ask is: “Am I empowering those with the expertise or am I blocking their best work?”. Howard Behar once wrote, “The person who sweeps the floor should get to choose the broom.”. This is essential in building a strong relationship with any team. Give them free time to innovate and learn. Arm them with data if they don’t have it and question them when they don’t use it.

Talk what you consider really important The idea is not just to use many words Direct and going to the point will be part of your success as a leader

There should be constant feedback mechanism with development team on following points 1. What 80% of the customer demand or looking for 2. Application or solution or value created by adding the feature 3. What competitive advantage to organization 4. How the market landscape will change

As a product management leader I value the professional talent of the development team and want to bring context, well defined problems backed by data to help inform what we want to build together. Stop treating engineers like robots and treat them as valued professionals challenged to solve problems creatively across many different dimensions.

It's a give and take relationship with the product development team. As a product marketer you take product development's expertise in the product and you turn that into marketing materials relevant to your customers. You also need to give the product development team a voice in your marketing plans. By not asking product development for their opinions & feedback, you lose their buy-in and you may be missing key information in your marketing messaging. You'll find that your job as a marketer be harder than it should be without the buy-in of your product development team. By having a strong relationship, you're able to produce the best marketing materials and be able to lean in on the product development team for help when you need it.

In product marketing, you navigate the delicate balance between aligning with customers' needs and desires while acknowledging the constraints imposed by the current technological landscape. Customers represent one end of the spectrum, and the development team occupies the other, serving as a critical anchor to the practical realities of technology. Embrace the collaborative dynamic by leaning into the expertise of the development team, fostering a symbiotic relationship that enhances your understanding of technological limitations and, in turn, refines your approach to meeting customer expectations. This collaborative approach ensures a holistic perspective that benefits both the product's market positioning and its technical viability.

“Building a strong relationship with the product development team is similar to cultivating a garden where expertise and autonomy are the thriving blooms. Respecting their expertise is like acknowledging the unique qualities of each flower – recognizing and valuing the diverse skills within the team. Autonomy, on the other hand, is the sunlight that allows these blooms to flourish. It involves trusting the team’s judgment, providing the freedom to innovate, and fostering an environment where creativity can blossom independently. By respecting their expertise and granting autonomy, we not only cultivate a garden of innovation but also nurture a team that feels empowered and inspired to contribute their best.”

I have often experienced my dev team get no visibility into their work’s impact to the business. It could be a bug fix that helped save $$ or a new feature that excited customers. My approach: - Quick stats: be informed about your product’s output and share stats with your team on the go. If you run into a dev teammate in the breakroom, share the latest with them, it doesn’t need to be formal always. - Anecdotal feedbacks: pass positive notes from customers or your sales team with the dev. It is hugely encouraging ! - Celebrate success: launch announcements should always call out the devs that worked on the project and it should be shared to the highest levels possible. Quickest way to get them motivated!

In my experience at work, I've found that celebrating our product development team's accomplishments and embracing their lessons from failures has been instrumental. It's not about being the type of marketer who only appears during problems or takes sole credit. Instead, it's about being the one who genuinely appreciates their hard work, stands by them in times of adversity, and openly shares both successes and setbacks. This approach creates a strong, collaborative bond where we all grow together.

Acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of your development team. Recognize achievements, both big and small, to boost morale and demonstrate that their hard work is valued.

Building a strong relationship with the product development team involves creating a culture that appreciates both the crescendos of success and the valuable notes in failures. Celebrating achievements is same as to acknowledging the symphony of hard work, creativity, and collaboration. It’s about recognizing individual and collective triumphs, fostering a sense of pride and motivation. On the flip side, learning from failures is akin to refining our composition. Embracing mistakes as opportunities for growth, we collectively dissect, understand, and improve. By celebrating achievements and learning from failures, we not only fortify our relationships but also compose a resilient and innovative team, continuously refining our masterpiece

If you're going to go to work for 8+ hours a day, you should enjoy the work and the people you work with. The only way to do that is to insert some fun and your personality into your everyday job. In a remote world, you need to carve out time to build relationships. If you have healthy and happy relationships with your co-workers, your work product will be better and you'll have a lot more fun! Don't be afraid to have inefficient meetings if you're spending that time having fun and getting to know each other. In a remote environment, that time is incredibly important to build empathy for each other and pick up on the nuances of your teammate's communication style, motivations, challenges, etc.

In my experience, the product development team doesn't have as much access to marketing swag or company swag like branded T-Shirts, Tote bags, Stanley cups etc... I always try to make sure that it's not just all work but some fun and games by giving marketing swag to the product development team. They are super appreciative and feel like they aren't just someone you approach when you need help, but also a friend.

'COMMUNICATION' In forging a robust partnership with the product development team, the cornerstone lies in clear communication. Conveying the "what" and "why" with transparency to the broader team, securing their commitment, sets the tone for cultivating a world-class product. Alignment to a shared vision paves the way, making the journey smoother despite inevitable challenges and critiques. With everyone rallying towards a common goal, the collaborative process becomes more fluid, creating a streamlined and harmonious relationship among all working groups.

By implementing these strategies: Open Communication, understanding their Process, establishing mutual goals, involving them early, providing context, respecting their expertise, supporting their needs, regular check-ins, celebrating successes together, feedback and continuous improvement, and finally, building personal connections, you can establish a solid and collaborative relationship with the product development team, leading to more efficient workflows, better outcomes, and a shared sense of achievement.

Here's something that has worked well for me: let's bring PMs early into our core messaging and value proposition development. As product marketers, we want to contribute to the product roadmap as we bring a ton of value here (rightly so). It makes sense to return the favor and bring PMs into our work from a technical expertise perspective and to give them a platform to flex their creative muscles too.

Look to leadership and management teams to establish the appropriate organizational strategies that enable product development teams and the stakeholders that surround them to engage effectively. Ensure and develop the culture of collaboration and non-complacency and curiosity. Employ process frameworks and RACI models as needed if the teams are large and complex. Drive the right incentives and consequences. Move talent when time is up.

As a product manager, I always encourage my team to learn new skills and technologies relevant to the project. I see an article online, I share with them to read up on it and see how it can help our development. Also, having regular one-on-one meetings to discuss goals, our progress and any challenge that we might face or currently encountering. I also create a safe space for the team to give me feedback on my leadership style, communication and overall project direction. I am not the only one on the team, and I also want to learn from them. So, I have this open door policy. Come in, give me feedback, if I’m not seeing things from your angle, explain it to me.