I just read an nytimes article about how Nokia has a problematic engineering-driven culture.

Made me think about whether engineering driven cultures are actually bad. People often talk of marketing-driven cultures being sucky to work for, but engineering departments getting all the priority is not likely to be very healthy either.

What you really want is a product-driven culture. Product is the combination of engineering and marketing (It almost sounds like a pun). To have a good product, you have to have both good engineering, good marketing, and an attitude that does not treat the two as opposite ends of a power struggle.

I suspect that famous examples of lopsided cultures result when one side stops listening to the other. It takes vision and focus from the top of these companies to really make sure the right balance is maintained. Few companies have done it well, but we all know it when they get it right.