3 Principles In Communicating With Your Colleagues

Creating alignment is a deceivingly challenging job a Product Manager undertakes. Yet, it remains a largely misunderstood activity.

‍

Here are 3 principles that I learnt about alignment the hard way:

1) Just because something is written, doesn't mean it's read

Alignment is not about documentation.

Consider this:

PM: Why didn't you handle this edge case?

Dev: It wasn't in the spec.

PM: But I added this as a comment on JIRA & left a message on the Slack channel.

Dev: You send hundreds of messages, Aatir. I can't go through them all.

Sometimes we think that since the information exists on some digital medium, our job is done.

We cite it as evidence that we held our end of the bargain.

However, we don't "hire" tools like Slack, JIRA & Asana to exchange information.

The job-to-be-done here is "shared understanding" & mere documentation doesn't cut it.

The PM has to ease info consumption.

Ex: When you share a Google Doc or Figma wireframe & fail to get a single comment/inquiry, be very worried.

2) Just because it's read, doesn't mean it's understood

Here's a crude example:

Designer: Why do you need a country selector?

PM: Read my personas.

Designer: Dude, all these personas are based out of Pakistan.

PM: Exactly. "Out" of Pakistan.

Designer: * face-palm *

We all have our own nuances in interpreting language.

Metaphors, complex acronyms & cryptic language are unnecessary speedbumps on the way to alignment.

Once I got into a discussion about webhooks. I paused the meeting & asked everyone to define what a webhook meant. We all had different definitions. Thus, without a common ground, we had no basis to argue.

We could literally be talking about the same subject but have different notions of what it means.

I like to quote this joke from Rahul Subramanian that he shared in one of his stand ups. A Pakistani & Indian were taunting each other by citing wars they had supposedly won.

"Do you remember 1965?"

"Oh but do YOU remember 1965?"

Turned out their respective textbooks had taught them that they had won.

Thus, without shared facts, you can't have have shared understanding.

3) Just because it's understood, doesn't mean it will be acted upon

Alignment is not about consensus, but it is about commitment.

"Why haven't we started on this?"

"Because we haven't agreed on it."

Argument is healthy. However, universal agreement is a futile pursuit.

At Bayt, we used to apply an Amazon principle called: "Disagree & Commit".

This meant that if you disagree with a decision or policy, speak up. Present an articulate case.

Of course, don't be a jerk about it. Do it because you care.

But there's a limit. If your opinion isn't taken, you did your job. Now, jump on board & hustle in the chosen direction. And don't say "told you so" when things go south.

However, it is the PM's duty to shephard working teams to get them to commit, regardless of whether they agree or not.