Why Product and Engineering Are Failing (And How They Can Finally Fix It)

For too long, there’s been this invisible wall between product and engineering. It’s an unspoken assumption that product managers solve problems from the “business” side, while engineers take care of the “technical” side. We build processes, we build features, and we build products—but are we building bridges?

Here’s the truth: the challenges we face today are too complex to be solved in isolation. The biggest mistake we can make as leaders is thinking that we can keep operating with this transactional mindset. Now more than ever, it’s critical to forge real partnerships between product and engineering teams. And I’m not just talking about sitting in the same meetings.

I mean truly understanding each other’s worlds, knowing what it’s like to walk in the other’s shoes, and finding joint opportunities where both sides can contribute at every stage of the journey.

Empathy—real empathy—is at the core of this evolution.

Imagine an engineer being part of a product design meeting, not just as a technical expert but as a partner shaping the experience. Or a product manager digging into the nitty-gritty of performance issues, understanding the trade-offs that engineering has to make. The magic happens when we stop seeing problems as polar—“this is a product issue” vs. “this is a technical issue”—and start looking at the bigger picture.

Let me give you an example. Say you’re developing a large reporting feature. The traditional approach is this: product sets the vision for a seamless experience, no matter the data size or complexity, and engineering has to figure out how to make that vision a reality. But what happens when the dataset explodes? What happens when the sheer scale of the data outgrows the technical constraints of the system? In most cases, the user is left wondering why their report is taking forever to load.

Here’s how we can change the game.

Instead of trying to force a “one-size-fits-all” solution, what if product and engineering worked together to reshape the user experience based on scaling thresholds? Maybe once the dataset hits a certain point, we adjust user expectations. We communicate upfront: “This is a massive report, we’ll notify you when it’s ready.” You’ve just made it possible to support those complex scenarios without putting unrealistic pressure on the technical team to deliver miracles.

This isn’t about lowering the bar—it’s about aligning expectations with reality. It’s about product giving engineering the breathing room to build something sustainable and scalable, while still ensuring that the end-user feels informed, valued, and supported.

The reality is, no matter how performant your system is, there are limits. We can only process so much data in a given time—there’s no escaping the laws of physics. What we can do is ensure that our product strategy and technical execution are working hand-in-hand, not in separate silos.

I’ve seen this in action time and time again. The best engineers I’ve ever worked with have an incredible product sense—they don’t just solve technical problems; they’re thinking about the customer every step of the way. And the best product managers I know? They understand engineering constraints as deeply as they understand customer pain points. They know when to push and when to pivot, and that only comes from real empathy for what the engineering team is dealing with.

At the end of the day, the magic happens when these two sides of the equation meet in the middle. That’s where innovation lives. That’s where we stop just “building features” and start building products that truly solve problems—problems that are both technical and human in nature.

So, if you’re still thinking in terms of “this is a product problem” or “this is an engineering issue,” I challenge you to step back. Ask yourself: are we really collaborating, or are we just exchanging deliverables? Are we building partnerships, or are we just working side by side?

Because in today’s world, only the teams that blur those lines will truly succeed.