I think many engineers would be better contributors if they started to think more about the customer impact of their work.

Level One: Delivery

Early in our careers, we’re looking for explicit directions, which we learn to deliver, and that is vital.

Sophisticated checkout wizard? Complex domain model? I can do it! You learn to make it work and demonstrate that you can ship.

Next Level: Thinking Like a Product Owner

The next level is thinking like a product owner and asking: “Does this improve the customer experience?”

We worry that managers don’t want pushback and would rather hear “Can do.” My experience is the opposite. Great managers know that even good choices usually involve tradeoffs. If you think this feature is a mistake, contradicts another feature or an industry standard, or could be improved, say so.

Thinking like a product owner puts you on the same side as other contributors on the team, like product managers. On some teams, these relationships can feel antagonistic, like they’re champions of the customer and you’re a champion of something else. Except, you’re both trying to do the same thing: make great software that customers love. Change your mindset and work together!

Shortcut: Asking “What’s the Why?”

One of my favorite shortcuts in this direction is asking: “What’s the why?” Before delivering a feature, stop and ask: Why is this feature worth adding?

Why is it worth the time for your teammates to review, for your stakeholders to approve, and for your users to adjust to? What are we getting from adding it that’s better than anything else we could be building?

Defining the “why” has many benefits. It will:

  • Help you prioritize high-value ideas.
  • Make you a champion for your work.
  • Get others on your side.

You can even use the “Five Whys” method when the first answer isn’t satisfactory. Keep asking why until you get it.

Become a Product-First Software Engineer

Thinking product-first is a shift toward ownership that I’ve seen change people’s professional outlook. Once you start seeing things this way, you might start doing better work and even feeling better about it.

Here’s non-ownership: “We need push notifications because every app has them.” Ownership: “We can connect better with our customers throughout the purchasing process with push notifications.”

Anecdotally, I took a step in this direction when I tried to build my own software product as the first engineer. You start to view ideas with healthy skepticism because you have potentially a lot to gain from being right.

As an individual contributor at a company, there’s almost always a product-first reason for doing it. Try to find it, and if you can’t, say so. If you do, and are right more than wrong, you’ll become a better engineer.