“Guess how developers find solace? They start writing code.”

Developers will often start projects *on time* because they understand that if they don’t they will be the only ones held to the grindstone to make the deadline no matter who held up the process. Let’s be honest – product managers only have control of the deliverable date…sometimes. If a PM cannot get the “needed information” to the developer in time…then yes, a developer will often start and try to solve the issue as he/she understands the problem.

“Developer resistance to a software product manager is directly proportional to the number of lines of code written.”

I think this should be reworded to “Developer resistance to a software product manager is inversely proportional to the amount of time before the deadline” Time goes down, resistance goes up. It’s all about that “needed information”. If a PM continually delivers last minute information and the developer feels that the PM is putting all the responsibility on the shoulders of the developer in making the deadline…the developer will not be receptive and eventually will resent the PM for it. PM Credibility is important here…the PMs credibility will erode with each occurrence.

“3 ways software product managers can work effectively with development teams”

Define how to measure success of the project. If a developer gets frazzled meeting a deadline – and even worse under the stress points I’ve listed above – it’s very critical that a PM can measure the success of that project. If a method was not defined, developers will come up with one. They have the data at their fingertips and are generally very good at analyzing the usage of said new project, or change in data since release of said project. If it wasn’t a success – then say it wasn’t and be ready to understand why.

Another – Don’t claim victory with a project when it very clearly to a developer is not a victory. The PM delivered the ‘needed information’ at the last second which the developer implemented by putting in 48 hours during the next 24…maybe bled over the deadline by a day or two. Development is “noted” for not having met the deadline. Several weeks later the PM claims victory. The developer pulls some stats and sees that clearly all the rush, effort and carpal-tunnel were not worth it.

Another – Claim accountability. PMs should claim accountability with delivery of late information. Definitely they should “Take every opportunity to make sure [they] stand up for [the] development team” and tell Executives the deadline was missed because the PM delivered needed information late in the game – for example.

“Being a developer is not a fun job – it is a very stressful job.”

A large majority of developers enjoy development. A minute fraction are willingly masochistic. They will resist when they see the project headed in a direction that will ultimately *appear* to the organization as if they did not execute given everything they needed in a timely fashion.

Kudos to you for attempting to address a very common obstacle in product development. Hopefully my suggestions will offer more information to solving the challenges you’ve mentioned.