Team roster at GitLab was typically, 1 Engineering Manager (EM), 1 Product Manager (PM), 6-12 engineers, 1 designer (covering multiple teams).

Here are some of the guidelines I followed when working with my PM as an engineer and as an EM.

Speak their language

I often see engineers get into implementation details as the team is doing large scope planning. I totally get why that happens, as engineers we are eager to solve problems we see. However when a PM is asking “How long do you think this would take?” they are more interested in hearing if this is a “1-2 days” task or a “6+ months” task than the exact details.

(Good) PMs will have a sense of what’s important to engineering and you should help them where you can. It’s easy to say “I want to refactor, give me 3 weeks” but go one step further and explain why “we need to refactor this god-class, the last 3 times we shipped a feature touching this area we shipped a bug”

Have an opinion

(Good) PMs want to work with the team to deliver a great product. They are eager to have engaged engineers who care about which direction the product is going and the end user. If you’ll allow me to brag about me in my blog…this is one of my strengths as an EM. I will drive engineers to engage with the product and project management.

Take ownership

PMs are often the person who fills holes in the team. We have low code quality? PM slots in manual testing to their calendar. We have customers who need help? PM steps into a support role.

As an engineer you are well positioned to take ownership beyond the code you write. Handle status updates for your project, look out for dependencies in upcoming work, help out with documentation for users. This is a great way to move the team forward and if you are eager to grow in your role this is a great way to show you can take on more responsibility.

Catch up regularly

This is especially important for the EM<>PM partnership. And doubly important if you are in a remote setting. You should be on the same page on what is important for the team.

Cover for your PM

Having your EM or an engineer do the PM duties for some period of time can uncover all sorts of inefficiencies in the engineering<>product communications.

Sending your PM on a 3 week vacation is a good opportunity to pressure test this.