Blue helmet blues

Saeed's recent post on the triumvirate of Sales, Marketing, and PM contains laudable suggestions for how PM can work better with these other groups. When he starts talking about the rocky relationship between Sales and Marketing, I worry that some hapless PM might read this post and think about playing peacekeeping force between these warring factions.

My frank advice: don't try to be the hero that ends the frictions between these two groups. At some point, they might ask you for help in some project that might help settle their differences. However, as in all troubled relationships, they must want to change for this sort of activity to be worthwhile. PM has enough challenges of its own, and it has little leverage or no over either of these organizations.

Comments

[Saeed Khan]

Tom,

Thanks for the reference and the clarification. You are correct, PMs should not get into mediation mode in this situation. The incumbents need to work it out.

My post was targeted specifically at the Sales and Marketing teams in companies. Yes, there is a triumvirate of 3 orgs, but for whatever reason, Sales and Marketing all too often butt heads with one another.

It's an interesting dynamic. Sales depends on Marketing for several critical elements of their success -- leads, collateral, awareness etc. -- and Marketing has little control over the process once Sales takes over. Who came up with this system? :-)

Saeed