Bridging the Gap: Collaboration Between Product and Engineering

As I entered my senior year of my computer science degree, the daunting thought crossed my mind – what was I going to do after graduation?

I had done well in my coursework, spent time tutoring students in computer science and math, built simple websites for friends and small businesses and even worked as a growth marketer at a startup, yet despite all of this, I had never completed a software engineering internship. Meanwhile, many of my classmates were heading down that path, which left me feeling uncertain and stressed.

A career fair at my university became an unexpected turning point. Initially, I hadn’t planned to attend due to a lack of interest in the companies present; however, I was intrigued by Teach for America and decided to explore. That’s when I stumbled upon a product management internship. I had no idea what that entailed, but the hiring manager was amused by my experience running coding birthday parties for kids on weekends. He recognized a natural fit between my ability to break down complex topics and communicate effectively (the kids had a blast at these coding birthday parties) – key skills for a product manager.

Product management is a generalist role where communication and people skills are essential. In contrast, engineers are specialized, requiring focused time for deep work. While these differences may seem like opposing forces, successful collaboration between product and engineering is critical to building great products, particularly in the security industry.

My technical background in computer science, which started in high school, taught me the importance of breaking down big problems into smaller, digestible chunks. This methodology is crucial in product and engineering communication. Product professionals absorb insights from sales, marketing, supply chain, customer feedback and competitive analysis. It is then our responsibility to distill this information into actionable work that engineers can implement and test individually. When all these components come together, they should address the overarching problem in a structured and meaningful way.

This process is essential because there is nothing more daunting for an engineer than being given an elaborate problem statement with no clear direction – just a blank code editor and a complex challenge. By structuring work into well-defined tasks, product managers empower engineers to focus on execution rather than ambiguity.

Additionally, while engineers must stay current with development trends and best practices, product managers are constantly engaging with customers, attending meetings and refining their product sense. This dynamic ensures that while engineers focus on building the best technical solutions, product managers define the right problems to solve.

This is all escalated in importance given the gravity of the use cases we deal with in the security industry. Product managers must advocate for the highest level of quality and ease of usability – there is no room for errors or misunderstandings in a for an interface being used in a lockdown situation for example. In the real world, as a regular employee, we may take for granted the security and stability in our day to day lives, similar to how we take clean bathrooms at the office for granted. However, it is the PM’s duty to ensure we are thinking from the system integrator, from the security admin, from the front desk manager’s law enforcement perspective.

To foster collaboration, I make it a priority to stay connected with my engineering team in meaningful ways. Writing detailed product specs and conducting thorough spec reviews ensures alignment from the start, while intermediate check-ins allow us to test and validate solutions as they are being built. Engineers are included in key customer feedback discussions and business opportunities, making them part of the broader vision. Customer feedback, the good, the bad, and the ugly, is always relayed to the team, helping them understand how their work impacts real users. Team-building activities help create camaraderie, while an open dialogue about engineering challenges and management constraints ensure that no one feels blindsided. Transparency and trust are the foundation of this relationship, and by making engineers aware of the strategic direction and obstacles on the management side, we create a culture of shared ownership and problem solving.

At the heart of it, product managers identify and define the subproblems, while engineers determine the best way to implement solutions. When done effectively, this collaboration leads to seamless product development, where both teams feel empowered and aligned toward a shared goal.

Reflecting on my journey, I realize that my early experiences – whether tutoring students, hosting coding workshops or marketing at a startup – all played a role in preparing me for product management, not the CEO of product, but rather the constant in the product development experience. Bridging the gap between product and engineering is not just about processes and methodologies – it’s about understanding people, fostering clear communication and ensuring that great ideas translate into tangible solutions.

The views and opinions expressed in guest posts and/or profiles are those of the authors or sources and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Security Industry Association.

This article originally appeared in RISE Together: A Newsletter for Emerging Security Leaders, presented by SIA’s RISE community.