Leave developers alone

If you are working in a product development company most probably you are doing something wrong if start changes and improvements in a technology departments/teams. Little by little i start to understand that.

Leave developers alone, let them do the work they love and focus instead on the flow and other challenges which require attention and might be missed:

  • Understand and communicate the essence of the product
  • Identify business value and stakeholders’ needs and make sure this is delivered regularly
  • Clarify, negotiate and communicate the important priorities and dates
  • Balance the needs
  • Work effectively with development team(s)
  • Identify, track and address things blocking progress
  • Gather and spread information

Developers can help with all these activities, but most probably they don’t love this type of work. That is why they are not managing the product and don’t want to act as Product Owner or Product Manager.