Business People and Engineers. Part 3: Real-life Scenarios

In this final part of the cycle, we will check three real-life examples of interaction between business people and engineers. For each example, we will see what is done correctly, what is not, and what can be improved in the future.

Technical Difficulties

Imagine a business initially founded and managed by a good businessman (let us say a sales manager) with a little technical knowledge. This person knows a lot about his customers, what they want, and how to satisfy their needs. However, this businessman considers the technical part a secondary thing that can be done quickly and cheaply.

Let us start from the bright side. The customer will be happy, so the company will not have any financial issues initially. The company's processes will be directed to satisfy the customer, which may be tricky sometimes, but still is the priority.

Now let us check the issues. Doing the technical part quickly and cheep from the very beginning leads to bad architecture, weak implementation, and expensive support in the future. Workflow complexity will make this issue even worse. The more complex system is the better architecture and flows it requires.

The solution is relatively simple here — plan the technical part from the very beginning. Proper architecture, coding best practices, and balanced workflow will lead to higher expenses in the beginning, but cheaper support in the long-term perspective. The crucial part here is to find a point of balance when the company has a good technical foundation and remains profitable.

No Business People — No Problems

The opposite situation may happen with a company ruled by a technical person. It is a common scenario for technological startups without business support.

A technical side will be healthy or at least above average. The application will be properly written and tested; workflows will be simple enough and straightforward for understanding. And that is it.

Problems are going to appear on the business front. Pure understanding of customers' needs and processes, lack of proper financial and operations management may lead to early financial issues and, consequently, to overall failure. How to prevent such a scenario?

Business planning is required from the very beginning. Without understanding what to do, when to do, and how to do, the solution's quality is irrelevant. The customer should be able to use the solution to perform his regular activities, and the company should make enough profit to continue functioning. These are necessary conditions for the company to become successful.

Divide And Conquer

Another typical scenario of business person and engineer interaction is a 50/50 situation. Both sides have discussed the initial plan, split responsibility based on who will do the job the best, and started work separately. What can go wrong?

Let's see what was done correctly first. Initial planning and responsibility separation are good things. They guarantee initial performance and productivity boost to build the right solution and attract new customers. It is also good that a business person and engineer understand each side's advantages and disadvantages and accept them.

The problem of this scenario is one word — separation. Even though different team members are doing what they can do best, they lack integration. There are no sync calls or meetings to discuss new scenarios; there is no flexibility to adjust to the market needs. So, despite the smooth start, such a company has a fatal flaw and does not have a future.

The fix here is relatively simple in theory. Both sides need to coordinate their work together (they can do that) and adapt to changes in the customer demands, market situation, and possible technical complications. Why "in theory"? Because this is not an easy job on practice and good communication and adequately set up workflows are just the tip of the iceberg. However, this is the only scenario that has the potential for success in the future.

Summarizing all these scenarios, we can see that business and technical teams have to work together all the time to become successful. This cooperation is an essential trait of every modern company. Remember that, and you will have a better understanding of company processes and an easier route to success!