Collaboration Across Departments: A Guide for Engineering Managers

Collaboration is at the heart of delivering successful products, and engineering managers are critical in building strong relationships with other departments. Whether it’s Product, Design, Data Science, QA, UX research, or Customer support, engineering leaders must collaborate effectively to achieve shared goals. This article will share tips to help engineering managers build solid relationships with other departments and deliver better products.

Communicate clearly and frequently.

Clear and frequent communication is the foundation for building solid relationships with other departments. Make sure to keep lines of communication open with other teams and ensure everyone is on the same page. Schedule regular check-ins and meetings to keep everyone updated on progress and to address any issues or concerns.

For example, it’s pretty typical at companies I’ve been to have a weekly meeting with your peers in product and design (“the EPD trio”: Engineering, Product, Design). Communication in this “circle” needs to be transparent, and you can promptly discuss issues or concerns as they arise.