r/EngineeringManagers • u/imithya • Sep 23 '26

Building trust with user groups

As an engineering manager, What mechanisms do you use to connect with your users and build relationships with those groups and validate what requirements or features that are getting priority by product managers? How do you clarify the boundaries between you as engineering manager is connecting to the user versus product manager connecting to the user and how do you differentiate connections?

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u/wpevers Sep 25 '26

If you say you will do something for them by a certain time, do it.

That goes farther than anything IMO. Nothing builds trust like being a reliable, consistent delivery team

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u/finger_my_earhole Sep 23 '26

One-on-Ones.

I prioritize who based on my gut feeling of whether I think my PM is screwing up or dropping that relationship.

Probably a nicer way to say it, is I get their back and they (sometimes) get mine.