You're caught between design and engineering leads in conflict. How can you navigate without picking a side?

Beyond understanding, empathy is key. Put yourself in the shoes of both designers and engineers to truly grasp their perspectives. Only then can you bridge the gap and foster collaboration instead of conflict.

"Taking sides in team conflicts is a trap for any PM." Instead, your role is to mediate and facilitate effective communication. Here’s how to navigate conflicts using the SCQ framework: 1. Situation: Clarify the current situation, reviewing the product goals and visions with both parties. 2. Complications: Discuss the complications and underlying reasons for the disagreement. 3. Question: Pose a question focused on what steps are needed to align actions with the product goals. By guiding both sides to a mutual understanding, you often find that they can agree on a solution that supports the overarching product objectives.

Facilitate a discussion to understand each lead’s perspective and concerns. Encourage them to express their viewpoints and identify common goals. Use data and user feedback to ground the conversation in facts. Highlight the importance of collaboration and the shared objective of delivering a great product. Seek compromises that address the core issues of both sides. By acting as a neutral mediator, you can help them find a balanced solution that respects both design integrity and technical feasibility, fostering teamwork and mutual respect.

Avoid Taking Sides: As a PM, your role is to mediate and facilitate effective communication, not to take sides. SCQ Framework: Use this method to navigate conflicts: Situation: Clarify the current situation, reviewing product goals and visions with both parties. Complications: Discuss the underlying reasons for the disagreement. Question: Ask what steps are needed to align actions with the product goals. Guide to Mutual Understanding: Help both sides agree on a solution that supports the product objectives. Using this approach helps resolve conflicts and keeps the team focused on shared goals.

-First off, let’s hear both sides out. Grab a coffee with each lead, listen to their concerns, and try to understand where they’re coming from. -Next, let’s get everyone talking. Set up a meeting where both leads can share their thoughts. Let's remember, it’s not about who’s right or wrong, it’s about understanding each other’s perspectives. -Now, let’s remind everyone why we’re here - we all want to build an amazing product, right? -Finding a compromise is key. It might involve a bit of give-and-take, but that’s okay. We’re all in this together, and sometimes, we need to meet in the middle. -And if things still don’t smooth out, don’t hesitate to ask for help. Maybe a senior leader or a mentor can provide some guidance.

You gotta get it all out on the table! If possible, meet in person. It's way easier to be civil and empathetic when you can see each other's body language in real time. Ask questions without judgment to promote mutual understanding, and remind the team of the product vision so competing options can be weighed against the vision.

Avoid Taking Sides: Stay neutral to manage team conflicts effectively. Arrange a Structured Meeting: Allow both sides to express their viewpoints in a collaborative, non-confrontational environment. Moderate Discussions: Help resolve misunderstandings by facilitating open dialogue. Foster Comfort: Create a safe space where team members feel comfortable speaking their truth. Promote Understanding: Encourage designers to understand technical constraints and engineers to appreciate design principles. By fostering open communication and mutual respect, you can help the team reach real compromises and move forward together.

Facilitate an open and constructive dialogue between the leads: - Neutral Facilitation: Act as a neutral facilitator during joint meetings. Encourage respectful communication and ensure each party has equal opportunity to speak. - Setting Ground Rules: Establish ground rules for the discussion, such as no interruptions, staying on topic, and focusing on solutions. - Fostering Empathy: Encourage each side to understand the other's perspective. This can help build empathy and reduce hostility.

Facilite a comunicação entre os líderes de design e engenharia. Promova um diálogo aberto e honesto, onde cada lado possa expressar suas preocupações e ouvir o outro. Muitas vezes, conflitos surgem de mal-entendidos ou falta de comunicação. Criar um ambiente onde a troca de ideias é encorajada pode ajudar a dissipar tensões

Arrange a meeting where both sides can express their viewpoints in a structured manner. Ensure the environment is collaborative, not confrontational. Sometimes, simply having a moderated discussion can help resolve misunderstandings. As a part of this discussion it is important to foster an environment where team members can feel comfortable speaking their truth so that a real compromise can be made moving forward. Encourage designers to understand technical constraints and engineers to appreciate design principles.

Conflicts arise due to conflicting goals or egos. First, understand the root cause from each team. Then, call for a joint discussion. Lay out organizational and team goals, and the metrics you’re chasing. Foster a discussion weighing the conflicting opinions against these goals, metrics, and customer needs. If a decision is crucial and hard to make, consider both opinions, design an A/B test against the MVPs for both, and choose whichever yields better result. If resources are limited, build prototypes and conduct usability testing with focus groups. If the decision isn’t that urgent, then you can always brush this under the carpet, and take it up at a later point of time with more data points to take the decision.

Identify Root Cause: Understand the root of conflicts by hearing each team's perspective. Joint Discussion: Organize a meeting to align on organizational and team goals and relevant metrics. Weigh Opinions: Discuss conflicting views in the context of goals, metrics, and customer needs. Crucial Decisions: For tough choices, consider A/B testing both options and choose the one with better results. Limited Resources: Build prototypes and conduct usability testing with focus groups to gather insights. Non-Urgent Decisions: If not urgent, delay the decision until more data is available for a better-informed choice.

Relembre ambos os líderes dos objetivos comuns do projeto. O sucesso do produto depende da colaboração entre design e engenharia. Alinhar os objetivos pode ajudar a focar nas metas compartilhadas, em vez das diferenças. Quando todos estão trabalhando em direção ao mesmo objetivo, é mais fácil encontrar um terreno comum.

Use data to guide decisions: Present actual product/customer usage data, customer surveys, industry reports, or financials to support arguments. Data-driven discussions help to neutralize biases and focus on objective outcomes. Emphasize design leadership for consumer products: If it's a consumer-facing product, prioritize design to create magical customer experiences. Drawing inspiration from Apple's success, highlight the importance of surprising and delighting customers. Involve the product manager as a neutral mediator: Have the product manager facilitate discussions, advocating for the best customer experience and business outcome. Encourage all parties to set aside egos and prioritize the customers' needs.

Use Data to Guide Decisions: Present actual product/customer usage data, surveys, industry reports, or financials to support arguments. Data-driven discussions help neutralize biases and focus on objective outcomes. Emphasize Design Leadership: For consumer-facing products, prioritize design to create exceptional customer experiences. Take inspiration from Apple's success in surprising and delighting customers. Involve Product Manager as Mediator: Have the product manager facilitate discussions, advocating for the best customer experience and business outcome. Encourage all parties to set aside egos and focus on customers' needs.

Seek compromises that can satisfy both parties: - Brainstorming Solutions: Conduct brainstorming sessions to explore potential compromises. Encourage creative thinking and openness to new ideas. - Prioritizing Issues: Help the teams prioritize their concerns to focus on the most critical issues first. - Trade-offs: Identify areas where trade-offs can be made without compromising the overall quality and functionality of the product.

Encoraje ambos os lados a explorar compromissos. Às vezes, a melhor solução não é a preferida de um lado ou do outro, mas um meio-termo que atende às necessidades de ambos. Incentive uma abordagem colaborativa para a solução de problemas, onde todos estejam dispostos a ceder um pouco em prol do bem maior.

Criteria Development: Create agreed-upon criteria for decision-making, like user impact, feasibility, and alignment with project goals. Data-Driven Decisions: Base decisions on data and evidence to keep discussions objective and focused on outcomes. Escalation Path: Set a clear process for escalating decisions when consensus isn't reached, ensuring collaboration continues.

Implement a clear decision-making framework: - Criteria Development: Develop criteria for decision-making that both teams agree upon. This could include user impact, feasibility, and alignment with project goals. - Data-Driven Decisions: Use data and evidence to support decision-making. This can help depersonalize the conflict and focus on objective outcomes. - Escalation Path: Establish a clear path for escalating decisions when consensus cannot be reached, ensuring it remains a collaborative process.

Utilize um quadro de decisão para ajudar a avaliar as opções de forma objetiva. Listar os prós e contras de cada abordagem pode trazer clareza e ajudar a tomar uma decisão baseada em dados e fatos, em vez de emoções. Isso pode reduzir o conflito ao mostrar uma análise clara e imparcial das opções.

After the conflict is resolved, reflect on what caused it and how similar situations can be better handled in the future. This could involve improving processes, enhancing communication channels, or providing additional training. Moving forward, you should also maintain regular check-ins so that negative energy doesn't creep its way back in. It may sound easy enough, but it is for more common for problems to rise again than it is for them to just disappear ;)

Depois de chegar a uma solução, é importante seguir adiante e implementar as decisões tomadas. Certifique-se de que todos estejam comprometidos com a execução do plano e mantenha um monitoramento constante para garantir que o conflito não ressurja. Reforce a importância da colaboração contínua e celebre as vitórias alcançadas juntos.

Apart from the point mentioned here, I also think understanding the distinct roles of product managers and product designers is crucial for effective collaboration. Product managers are the voice of the customer, identifying pain points and defining product strategy. Product designers focus on creating intuitive, engaging UI and UX solutions. Instead of dictating specific designs, product managers should clearly articulate problems and desired outcomes, allowing designers the creative freedom to explore solutions. This approach fosters innovation and ensures better user experiences. Trusting the expertise of each role and encouraging collaboration among product managers, designers, and engineers leads to more successful products.

To navigate through this situation, focus on the product goals and user needs. Facilitate a discussion to align their perspectives with data and user feedback. Emphasize collaboration and finding solutions that benefit the product and users, rather than taking sides.