Bottleneck #03: Product v Engineering

Martin Fowler explores how growing startups develop destructive 'us vs them' mentalities between product and engineering as functional silos emerge. The conflict stems from competing goals—product wants quick feature validation and customer acquisition while engineering wants scalable, well-engineered solutions. Warning signs include finger-pointing between functions, engineers lacking product context, missed dependencies, work slipping between teams, and unbalanced technical debt negotiation. Solutions focus on establishing a 'First Team' mindset that prioritizes cross-functional collaboration over functional reporting, clearly defining shared value through customer understanding and economic models, creating multidisciplinary teams aligned around value streams, developing clear working agreements, and balancing product investment between features and technical needs. Engineering leaders will learn that transformation requires changing organizational language to reduce tribal thinking, giving teams autonomy with full resources, and establishing metrics that guide balanced investment decisions. The goal is transforming from siloed functions to unified product teams focused on delivering customer and business value.