It’s years-long battle between business and development teams.
- Who is more important?
- Who is irreplaceable?
- Is it really that one side is ‘the One’?
It’s imaginary battle. The truth is…
No-one is more important
What? Why?
If you are on the dev side - you might think production is more important.
- It’s you who deliver the product, not the other way.
- You make plans become reality.
- And while you (probably) don’t communicate with client directly, you build things (and biz is just middleman taking money).
On the other side, if you are from biz team - your view might be that without you there would be no product building.
- You make deals happen, so everyone has their job.
- You sell (not yet existing) idea to the client, so devs could build it.
- You make money (and devs could build 10x faster, yet they are not productive at all).
Yet, question who is more important, should not be here. It’s not a battle between 2 clans. Company is not Shakespeares’ drama, where 2 families are fighting.
Each member of the same company has it’s place. Business should sell products and ideas, while production should deliver. Like yin-yang, there’s no more important position. One part complements the other.
- Without money there would be no product.
- Without product there would be no money.
That’s it. Both parties are playing in the same team. Instead of fighting, they should cooperate as much as possible.
While the above is true, there’s the other side. More important, above both sides. Who’s that?
Another player in the game
It’s is who you work for. Not your boss. Not manager, leader, etc. And not someone who you play against, too.
The 3rd side (often missed) is your client. Your end-user and recipient of the product. It’s who you build for and whom you earn money from.
And if business and production are seen as separate parties inside the company, there is increased risk of providing subpar quality to the client. Because where such silos form, there’s high chance that communication will be hurt. With worsened communication, there are worse results - be it something not delivered on time or too short deadline being set.
It’s like working within the same house vs working in 2 separate houses, where you have to yell to people from the second building. Something is always being missed here. In fact, you should work as…
It’s one ship
There’s captain, a cook and bunch of people working together, cooperating. While everyone could have different job to do, your goal is to:
- reach destination,
- not to sink your ship
Where’s the client here?
Let’s assume your are transporting 100 tons of gold from New York to London. Your client pays you to do the task. It’s better to stay floating and do the job. And it doesn’t matter which team is more important. If someone fails to do the task, the ship might end underwater.
So, instead of fighting, communicate.
Communicate, play together
Miscommunication are the no. 1 reason of tensions within any company (or basically in life). Be it not telling about something, doing it too late or not getting on the same page. Humans are social creatures and while they cooperate, results are synergic.
With better communication any party gains.
It’s just not worth to waste energy on fighting while you can play together. Even if not everything is perfect and something fails.
Remember, your co-workers most likely have good intentions. Play together and communicate.
What’s your take on this?