By Teresa Torres · producttalk.org · @ttorres on X · LinkedIn
Teresa Torres draws on the 2022 CDH Benchmarks survey of roughly 2,000 people to examine why product trios (PM, designer, engineer) often fail to collaborate effectively. Although most respondents worked in trios, about 30% said everyone did not have an equal say in recent decisions. The article groups the open-ended explanations into 12 recurring categories, from PMs or engineers dominating decisions to stakeholders dictating solutions, time pressure, and new teams. It closes with guidance on resourcing, shared accountability, team-level outcomes, and empowering teams to find their own solutions. The piece matters because it turns a widely felt anecdote into concrete patterns leaders can diagnose.
01Key takeaways
- Staffing a trio with PM, designer, and engineer is necessary but not sufficient for good collaboration.
- Make all three members jointly accountable for the same outcome instead of defaulting to functional silos.
- Share discovery responsibility so engineers and designers contribute to assumptions and ideas, not just execution.
- Notice quiet members and don't assume silence means agreement; create explicit ways for everyone to weigh in.
- Set outcomes at the team level and resist dictating specific solutions to let trios find the best path.
02Key sections
- Survey Context
- Most respondents worked in a trio, but the survey revealed that membership alone does not guarantee equal participation in decisions. About 30% reported unequal say.
- Dominance Patterns
- The most frequent barriers involve one role, usually the PM or engineer, or a single loud person, steering decisions. Hierarchy and perceived importance of roles drive much of this imbalance.
- Participation and Experience Gaps
- Engineers may stay execution-focused, designers may be shared or contractors with little context, and quieter or newer members may hold back. Each reduces the trio's collective input.
- Structural Obstacles
- External forces such as top-down stakeholders, time pressure, newly formed teams, and technical debt also prevent trios from working together.
- Recommendations
- Teresa advises full staffing, shared discovery responsibility, team-level outcomes, and leaders who avoid dictating solutions. Teams need explicit training in collaborating, not just the role mix.
03From the post
“If you’ve ever felt like working as part of a product trio was hard, you’re not alone. We often field questions or comments from people who are skeptical about how this type of collaborative decision-making can work, so we’ve known anecdotally for quite a while that”
04Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.