Projects slip when Product & Engineering don’t share a single ‘why’

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Use this 3-step checklist to prevent project slips before implementation starts.

Why the blame game never ends

Product Leadership: “Engineers can’t size work and don’t own outcomes.”
Engineering Leadership: “Requirements are vague and keep changing.”

After leading engineering teams (Google, Roblox, early‑stage startups), and interviewing over 100 product and engineering leaders, I found that both groups were right from their own perspective. They were simply speaking different languages.

The Moment It Clicked

I had engineers joining a few customer calls to see how users feel about our product.

I had a deep dive with the PMs to show them how the tech debt engineering has accumulated and affects their ability to ship new features. 

Suddenly, engineers became much more involved in product discussions, helping PMs define better products.

Suddenly, PMs were willing to prioritize tech debt projects because they understood how it would help them ship features faster.

Close the context gap — Step‑by‑step

Copy‑paste this into your next refinement session.

Alignment checklist	How to run it
1. Lead with the why	For each initiative or change, communicate to the engineers: • What customer problem? • Which metric moves? • What if we don’t ship? Make sure this information is available in Confluence for future reference.
2. Pair constraints with requirements	Encourage engineers to list technical limitations, legacy risks, or must‑hit edge cases right under each user story. Use a Confluence template for consistency.
3. Dedicate time to technical plans	Create explicit planning tasks for any solution that isn’t trivial. Every minute invested in planning will save hours down the road. Have the plan being written down and reviewed by the team before implementation starts.
4. ‘Why check’ on every scope change	Transparency helps keep everyone accountable and builds trust. Asking the right questions will also ensure the requested change is actually justified.

Deadlines slip when context slips

Give engineers the customer’s perspective and give PMs the technical constraints. When both sides share the same why, estimates become realistic, surprises reduced, and the software that ships is the software users actually need.

Your turn: What single practice has helped your team bridge the Product‑Engineering disconnect?