The 3 product battles 84% of EMs lose
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Only 16% of engineering managers are actively involved in product decisions, according to a survey of 950+ EMs. The post argues that EMs who stay purely technical miss critical context and lose influence. It outlines three levels of product involvement: tracking feature adoption metrics ("landing" vs. "launching"), watching session recordings and discovery calls to understand user behavior, and directly talking to customers. Concrete tactics include setting up analytics dashboards in Slack, joining PM-led customer calls silently, and reaching out to support ticket submitters for brief calls.
Table of contents
Level 1 - Land vs LaunchLevel 2 - Watching user behaviorLevel 3 - Talk to customers [boss]Your product is used by humansMy favorite reads of the week:Questions this post answers
What percentage of engineering managers are involved in product decisions?
Only 16% of engineering managers report being very involved in product decisions. A survey of more than 950 EMs found that 84% are largely uninvolved, and notably 45% of experienced EMs (those with significant tenure) are barely involved — despite having the context and seniority to contribute meaningfully to product direction. Engineering managers navigating the PM-EM boundary find relevant perspectives on daily.dev.
What is the difference between launching and landing a feature as an engineering manager?
Launching is shipping the feature; landing is ensuring it actually gets adopted and used. A concrete example: a route-planning tool was shipped to ~200 drone pilots, but only 6 used it after a generic announcement. After sending a personal message to each pilot, over 60 started using it. Tracking adoption metrics post-release is what separates a launch from a successful landing. Teams shipping features without tracking adoption find the launch-vs-land distinction worth following on daily.dev.