Your Product Manager keeps overcommitting on behalf of engineering

What would you do?

👋 Hey, it’s Stephane. Welcome to my weekly newsletter where I share lessons, and stories from my journey to help you lead with confidence as an Engineering Manager.

It’s Thursday morning, and as you’re about to get into sprint planning with your team when you get a message on the team Slack channel.

“Just aligned with the sales team, told them we can deliver the dashboard update in two weeks so let’s discuss this in planing!”

That’s not possible. You’re already behind on two other features. The team is exhausted. The PM never asked for your input. Again.

This isn't the first time.

They keep making public promises (timelines, features, outcomes) without talking to you or the team about them. It’s causing engineers to stay late nights working, broken trust, and a sense of frustration across your team.

You’re stuck between trying to protect your team and trying to keep the peace with Product. And now leadership is expecting a result that’s not doable.

You’ve got to act. But how?

Outline

- 🔒 What are your options?
- 🔒 Breaking down each approach
- 🔒 What I would do in this situation
- 🔒 How the decision can backfire and what to do about it
- 🔒 Takeaways
- 🔒 Some useful links from me

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