[jimbokun]

> It leaves the engineering team beholden to bad decisions made in other facets of the company (sales, marketing, upper management).

I mean, you're screwed anyways if those people can't do their jobs. No sales means no revenue means engineers taking a pay cut or getting laid off.

So the sales and marketing and product management responsible for your project, need to be on the same product team as the engineers, and have their compensation tied to the product's success.

If the engineers see themselves as the natural enemies of sales and marketing, the product is probably already doomed.