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Coming 2025

Product Oriented Software Engineering (POSE)

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The Product-Engineering Relationship is Key to Product Quality Innovation

The strongest product managers foster deep, effective partnerships with their engineering teams. Marty Cagan, a respected leader in product management, has said, “The most important relationship in a product company is between product management and engineering.” This collaboration is essential not only for strategic alignment but also as the driving force behind superior product quality and breakthrough innovations.

 

Without that close collaboration, engineers are often reduced to task-doers, disconnected from the product’s broader goals. This disconnect leads to missed opportunities, technical missteps, and compromised quality. Product Oriented Software Engineering (POSE) is a guide for product managers seeking to overcome these challenges. It equips you with practical strategies to ensure product managers and engineers are not only aligned but fully engaged in co-creating high-quality, innovative solutions that meet market needs.

 

Why This Book Matters for Product Managers

The Product Operating Model has emerged as arguably the most effective framework for navigating the increasing complexity of modern software development. The competitive pressures of this environment demand more than what traditional Agile or Scrum methodologies can offer. POSE is specifically designed to meet the needs of the Product Operating Model, providing product managers with the tools to:

 

  • Forge Stronger Partnerships with Engineering: Marty Cagan emphasizes that involving engineers early in the discovery phase leads to superior outcomes. In POSE, you’ll discover how to foster a collaborative environment where product and engineering teams drive innovation together.

  • Deliver Superior Product Quality: Successful product teams go beyond just shipping features—they deliver real value. POSE integrates engineering excellence into every step of the product development cycle, ensuring both maintainability and long-term product success.

  • Lead Market-Leading Innovation: High innovation happens when passionate engineers, empowered with domain knowledge, work closely with product managers. POSE shows how to harness this potential by fostering a strong partnership. For true innovation to thrive, product managers must also grow in their technical knowledge to better understand what is possible with emerging technologies. This partnership—between engineers who are deeply connected to the product and product managers who grasp the technical landscape—is key to delivering breakthrough solutions.

 

Why This Book Matters for Engineering Leaders

Engineering leaders are responsible for creating a culture that drives both innovation and long-term success. POSE delivers essential insights on how to achieve this by focusing on key areas:

 

  • Establish a Product Engineering Culture: Learn how to transform your team of software engineers into product engineers who deeply understand and contribute to the product vision, taking full ownership of both technical execution and product outcomes.

  • Develop and Grow Talent at All Levels: Discover strategies to nurture and grow your engineering talent, from entry-level to senior engineers, ensuring that every team member can thrive and deliver value at each stage of their career.

  • Assess and Retain Top Talent: Gain practical insights on how to assess your team’s performance, identify high-potential individuals, and implement strategies to retain top talent, keeping your engineering team engaged and motivated.

  • Tailor Agile, Scrum, and DevOps for Your Team: Move beyond one-size-fits-all frameworks. Learn how to adapt Agile, Scrum, and DevOps methodologies to fit your team’s unique dynamics, balancing the need for quick pivots with the importance of maintaining long-term product quality and innovation.

What You'll Learn

  • Bridge the Gap Between Product and Engineering: Discover how to create seamless collaboration between product managers and engineering teams, ensuring both sides communicate effectively and work toward shared goals. Learn techniques to improve transparency, trust, and alignment, leading to more successful product outcomes.

  • Align Engineering with Product Strategy: Get actionable guidance on ensuring your engineering teams are fully aligned with the product vision and strategy, actively participating in product discovery and long-term planning to drive better outcomes.

  • Unlock Time for Strategic Work: For product managers working on large, complex software products, having a team of collaborative product engineers is essential. These engineers take on much of the day-to-day development management, allowing product managers to focus on strategic priorities. With engineers fully aligned with the product vision, the need to constantly formulate and write user stories in Jira is greatly reduced—or even eliminated—freeing up valuable time for deeper, more impactful work.

 

Why POSE is the Guide for Modern Product Teams

POSE equips product managers with the tools to significantly reduce the workload of day-to-day interactions with engineering teams, freeing up time to focus on strategic goals. By working with engineers who possess both domain knowledge and strong software craftsmanship, you’ll be better positioned to deliver innovative, market-leading products. POSE also helps you adapt Agile and DevOps to your team’s strengths, creating high-performing teams that drive success through talent and teamwork.

 

For engineering leaders, POSE offers strategies to develop product engineers who not only code but also understand the product vision. You’ll learn how to foster a culture where engineers are empowered with domain knowledge and craftsmanship, ensuring long-term product quality and competitive advantage.

 

While product management and design are essential, they won’t secure market leadership alone. A fast follower with a better-engineered product can overtake you. To truly lead, you need strong talent across product management, design, and engineering. POSE ensures that these teams collaborate effectively to deliver superior products that customers love.

 

About the Author

Since joining G3 Technologies as a startup, Andrew has worn two hats simultaneously: Engineering Leader and Product Leader, leading cross-functional teams to deliver software that delights customers. Since 2006, he has shaped and refined Product Oriented Software Engineering (POSE) practices, which have been used across multiple product lines within G3 Technologies. Through Edensoft Labs, Andrew shares his expertise to help organizations create lasting success through deeper product-engineering collaboration and innovation.

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Book Outline

 

Part I: The Evolution of Product Development

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1. Introduction to POSE

  • Software as a craftsmanship-oriented field, where mastery produces exceptional work.

  • The world needs more great products that delight users and make the world better.

  • Why POSE matters in today’s software landscape.

  • Why Product Teams need Product Engineers rather than Software Engineers.

  • The rise of complex software and the Product Operating Model.

  • The rise of Product Management: A career path of unprecedented value.

  • Product Managers’ salaries will increase.

  • A brief history of software engineering philosophies.

  • Key differences between Agile, Scrum, DevOps, SAFe, and POSE.

 

2. Product Teams Need Product Engineers Rather Than Software Engineers

  • Product Managers need to provide clarity on vision, business, and user priorities to empower tech teams.

  • How Product Engineers reduce the workload of the Product Manager by crossing the product-engineering chasm.

  • The difference between Software Engineers and Product Engineers in today’s software teams.

  • How Product Engineers align engineering efforts with business and user priorities, enabling more strategic work for Product Managers.

 

3. The Product-Engineering Relationship

  • The Product Trio in constant collaboration.

  • Why innovation thrives in the engineering part of the trio.

  • The Product Trio and the making of great products.

  • Redefining quality in engineering.

  • The importance of deep work time for the trio.

  • Flex Engineer role: A Responsive Collaboration Resource.

  • How this relationship drives innovation and success.

  • When the trio falters: missed innovation and poor product outcomes.

 

4. Why a New Approach Is Needed

  • Critical Business Needs: Business Agility & Predictability

    • Cultivate estimation skills to improve planning accuracy and predictability.

    • Leverage Code Reuse In-the-Large to boost Business Agility and Quality.

    • Decentralize decision-making to speed up responses to change.

    • Remove Product Manager impediments to focus on strategic goals.

  • What Has Changed Since Agile & Scrum Came on the Scene.

  • How Scrum’s Sprint Culture Undermines Product Management and Design.

  • The Limits of Agile, Scrum, and DevOps.

  • How POSE Fills the Gaps with Deeper Collaboration and Ownership.

  • POSE vs. Traditional Development: A Full Comparison.

  • How POSE Provides the Solution: Achieving Both Predictability and Business Agility.

 

5. Using Engineering Downtime Between Releases to Drive Long-Term Success

  • Technical debt reduction

  • Quality investments

  • Temporary staff augmentation for bottlenecked teams

  • Professional development

 

Part II: Creating High-Performing Product Teams

 

6. Creating High-Performing Product Teams

  • Strategies for reducing workload in day-to-day interactions with engineering.

  • How to foster teams that focus on strategic goals and innovation.

  • Practical tips for adapting Agile and DevOps to create high-performing product teams.

 

7. The Innovation Trinity: Three Paths to Driving Innovation

  • Product Managers’ role in innovation

  • UX designers’ role in innovation

  • Engineers’ role in innovation

  • Innovation Through Deep Knowledge

  • Leveraging Engineering Insights: Product Managers and the Power of Emerging Tech

  • Bridging the product-engineering chasm to maximize innovation.

 

8. Product Managers and Product Engineers Share the Responsibility for Alignment

  • Sharing responsibility dramatically reduces misalignments.

  • Delivery team members often lack strategic alignment due to past focus on technical tasks.

  • Engineering Leadership & HR support is crucial for the transition to Product Engineers.

 

9. AI and No-Code: Enabling Product Managers to Prototype Without Engineering

  • AI and No-Code Tools for Independent Prototyping

  • Customer Validation and Requirement Refinement

  • Engineering Focus on Scalable, Production-Ready Solutions

 

10. Minimizing Time and Labor Spent on Coordination

  • How POSE leads to smaller, focused teams that drive higher productivity.

  • The benefits of lean teams in enabling faster decision-making and reducing coordination overhead.

  • How POSE’s structure minimizes time spent on coordination, allowing teams to focus on innovation and value-added work.

Book Outline

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Part III: Engineering Leadership in POSE

 

11. Establishing a Product Engineering Culture

  • Defining Product Engineers: Engineers who align technical ownership with product outcomes.

  • Converting Software Engineers into Product Engineers.

  • Tips for Selecting and Cultivating Flex Engineers

  • Strategies for transforming traditional teams into product-oriented engineering teams.

  • Fostering accountability and empowering engineers to deliver both technical and business success.

 

12. Developing and Growing Engineering Talent

  • The importance of Developer Experience (DX).

  • Approaches for nurturing engineering talent at all levels, from entry-level to senior engineers.

  • Strategies for building a continuous learning culture that fosters career growth and development.

  • Ensuring that every team member is equipped to thrive and deliver value throughout their career.

  • Cultivating Estimation Skills in Engineers.

 

13. HR’s Role in Product-Oriented Software Engineering

  • Employ Product Engineers, not just Software Engineers.

  • Set clear expectations and invest in training.

  • Promote based on the full Talent Pie: technical skills + domain knowledge + soft skills.

 

14. Growing Technical Talent Through Mobility and Stability

  • Encourage mobility for newer engineers to gain exposure to multiple products and broaden their skills.

  • Develop engineers by accumulating deep product and domain knowledge.

  • Foster long-term commitment to the product team.

 

15. Assessing and Retaining Top Talent

  • Practical steps for evaluating engineering team performance.

  • Identifying high-potential engineers and implementing strategies to retain them.

  • Creating an engaging and motivating work environment to keep top talent within your organization.

 

16. Tailoring Agile, Scrum, SAFe, and DevOps for POSE

  • Adapting Agile, Scrum, and DevOps to suit the unique dynamics of your engineering teams.

  • Balancing short-term pivots with long-term product quality and innovation.

  • How engineering leaders can move beyond one-size-fits-all methodologies to foster both agility and engineering rigor.

 

17. How POSE Addresses the Challenges of Definition of Done

 

Part IV: Strategies for Product Managers

 

18. Considerations for Hiring a Product Manager

  • Key qualities: strategic thinking, communication, and leadership.

  • Balancing technical understanding with user empathy and business acumen.

  • Ability to foster collaboration with engineering and design teams.

  • Domain Knowledge Considerations: Leveraging expertise without being constrained by it.

 

19. Bridging the Gap Between Product and Engineering

  • Creating seamless collaboration between Product Managers and engineering teams.

  • Techniques to improve communication, trust, and alignment.

  • How to ensure both sides are working toward shared goals.

 

20. Addressing Product Manager Burnout

  • Key causes of burnout: overwhelming operational workloads, constant context switching, and unclear responsibilities.

  • How POSE streamlines the Product Manager’s job by:

    • Reducing operational burdens through collaborative Product Engineers.

    • Enabling more focus on strategic goals and innovation.

    • Aligning engineering efforts to minimize redundant coordination.

 

21. Aligning Engineering with Product Strategy

  • Ensuring engineers are fully engaged in product discovery and long-term planning.

  • Practical steps for aligning engineering efforts with product vision and market needs.

  • Guidance on effective product-strategy alignment.

 

22. Unlocking Time for Strategic Work

  • The importance of collaborative Product Engineers for managing day-to-day development.

  • How aligned engineers reduce the need for constant user story formulation in Jira.

  • Freeing up Product Managers for deeper, more strategic work.

 

Conclusion: The Future of Product-Engineering Collaboration

  • The evolving role of Product Managers and engineers in software development.

  • How POSE sets the foundation for future innovation and product success.

  • Final thoughts on the importance of deep collaboration for delivering breakthrough products.

 

Appendices

  1. Appendix A: Tools and Techniques for Implementing POSE

  2. Appendix B: Resources for Further Learning (Books, Podcasts, Courses)

  3. Appendix C: Practical Adaptations of Agile, SAFe, and DevOps for POSE

  4.  Appendix D: Mastering Conversations for Success

    • Phrases for developers to get focus

    • Phrases for engineering managers to motivate product engineers

    • Phrases for product managers to lead collaborative conversations

    • Phrases for designers to advocate for usability and experience

    • General techniques for leading difficult conversations

  5. Appendix E: The pitfalls of requirements proxies in government contracts

 

About the Author

  • Andrew’s journey from shaping POSE as a dual Engineering and Product Leader at G3 Technologies to founding Edensoft Labs.

  • His two decades of experience driving innovation, collaboration, and engineering excellence.

 

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Insights from Product Oriented Software Engineering Interviews

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My sincere gratitude goes to the product managers across various industries and company sizes who contributed their insights to Product Oriented Software Engineering. Their diverse experiences have been invaluable in shaping this work to be broadly applicable. Thank you for helping drive this evolution in product management. Click on the links below to see brief excerpts of their insights:
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  1. Roman Pichler - Author & Consultant (Pichler Consulting)

  2. Jessica Hall - Author & Product Leader (Hallway Studio)

  3. David Luke - Board Member (Agile Alliance)

  4. Scott Sehlhorst - President (Tyner Blain)

  5. Simonetta Battieger - Founder & Product Leader (Inclusive Leaders)​

  6. Anna-Katharina Reykowski - Product Leader (Disney)

  7. Tien Yuan - Product Manager (Elite Technology)

  8. Adam Ellsworth - Product Manager (Lucid)

  9. Vilasini Neti - Director Product Management (Freddie Mac)

  10. Gary Cohen - Product Leader & Consultant (Practical Agility LLC)

  11. Bruce McCarthy - Author, Founder, & Product Leader (Product Culture)

  12. Andrew Star - Product Manager (Mews)

  13. Jill Spohn - VP Product (Northwind Pharmaceuticals)

  14. Joseph Ramirez - Product Management Leader (Flexjet)

  15. Preston Hunter - Senior Product Manager (Lucid)

  16. Chris Chu - Senior Manager, Product Management (Capital One)

  17. Alodia Cano - Senior Product Manager (Autodesk)

  18. Mike Wong - Senior Product Manager (Autodesk)

  19. Suchit Ligade - Senior Product Manager (Amazon)

  20. Shel Sharma - Product Management Leader (Capital One)

  21. Ajey Devaraj - Product Manager (Toyota North America)

  22. Yuri Streciwik - Senior Product Manager (Dell Technologies)

  23. Jake Rosenhaft - Tech Leader & Founder (Continuous Software, LLC)

  24. Gloriana Robles - UX Design Lead (Elite Technology)

  25. Greg Parrott - CX and UX Leader (The X-Mentor)

  26. Will Kessler - Product & Engineering Leader (Sydecar)

  27. Holly Bielawa - Founding Partner & Product Leader (Digital Product Partners)

  28. Carly Schmitting - Product Manager (Sopheon)

  29. Jessica Story - Product Manager (Cheezoo)

  30. Kent McDonald - Product Manager (Illuminated)

  31. Ashley Slaughter - Product Manager (Ford Pro)

  32. Vinayak Joglekar - Founder (Rezoomex)

  33. Peter Smith - Product Manager (Lucid)

  34. Bill Holman - Product Leader (Bloomfilter)

  35. Hannah Kim - Product Leader (Orijin)

  36. Nasi Rwigema - Head of Product (The Alliance)​

  37. Lauren Pruitt Eugene - Product Manager (Curriculum Associates)

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Are you a Product Thought Leader or Product Manager with insights to share and want to reshape software delivery worldwide? Sign up for a meeting here!

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