No, Your Engineering/Product Manager Isn’t Evil and Doesn’t Hate You

Howdy everyone. From a couple months back this topic has informed many a BeerOps conversation and Barry has enthusiastically taken it on. I expect lively conversation so it will be the only one for the night.

Thanks again to Ewa for last month's stimulating overview of UX. (And the tasty baked goods!).

Abstract
Ever felt like your engineering or product manager is making decisions that just don’t make sense? You’re not alone—and neither are they. In this talk, we’ll explore how different roles in a tech organization view the same challenges through very different lenses. Whether it’s prioritizing a feature, cutting scope, or managing technical debt, the motivations behind these decisions are rarely personal or malicious. By building empathy and understanding the context each role operates within—be it business pressures, technical constraints, or customer expectations—we can foster better collaboration, reduce friction, and ship better products. Let’s replace “us vs. them” with “we.”

Bio:
Barry Brinkley is a Product Manager at Leverage LLC, an IOT company focusing in industrial applications of IOT and ML/AI. He has worked in the software industry for over 15 years as a Product Manager, Software Engineer and an Engineering Manager

Agenda:
5:45pm-ish - Zoom will come up
6:00pm - 6:15 pm socialize & network
6:15pm - No, Your Engineering/Product Manager Isn’t Evil and Doesn’t Hate You - Barry
7:45-ish pm - BeerOps