In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, the way we approach software development is undergoing a significant transformation. As a product engineer with decades of experience in the field, I’ve witnessed firsthand the shift from traditional methodologies to a more dynamic, customer-centric approach. This blog post, the first in our series on Product Engineering, will explore this evolution and why it’s crucial for modern businesses to adapt.

The Changing Landscape of Software Development

Remember the days when software projects followed rigid, long-term plans? When we’d spend months mapping out every detail, stake holder meetings,d esign reviews for weeks architecting a massive new system, before writing a single line of code? Well it’s becoming increasingly clear that it’s no longer sufficient in our rapidly evolving digital world.

The reality is that by the time we finish implementing software based on these detailed plans, the world has often moved on. Our assumptions become outdated, and our solutions may no longer fit the problem at hand. As Mike Tyson says, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” In software development, that punch often comes in the form of changing market conditions, disruptive technologies, or shifts in user behavior.

The Pitfalls of Traditional Methods

Let’s consider a real-world example. The finance industry has been turned on its head by small, agile fintech startups. Traditional banks, confident in their market position, initially dismissed these newcomers, thinking, “They aren’t stealing our core market.” But before they knew it, these startups were nibbling away at their core business. By the time the banks started planning their response, it was often too late – they were too slow to adapt.

PayPal and Square as examples revolutionized online and mobile payments. While banks were still relying on traditional credit card systems, these startups made it easy for individuals and small businesses to accept payments digitally. By the time banks caught up, PayPal had become a household name, processing over $936 billion in payments in 2020.

Robinhood as well disrupted the investment world by offering commission-free trades and fractional shares, making investing accessible to a new generation. Established brokerages were forced to eliminate trading fees to compete, significantly impacting their revenue models.

This scenario isn’t unique to finance. Across industries, we’re seeing that the old ways of developing software – with long planning cycles and rigid roadmaps – are becoming less effective. In fact, a staggering statistic reveals that 37% of software in large corporations is rarely or never used. Think about that for a moment. We constantly hear about the scarcity of engineering talent, yet more than a third of the software we produce doesn’t provide value. Clearly, something needs to change.

The Rise of Product Engineering

Enter product engineering – a approach that’s gaining traction among the most innovative companies in the world. But what sets apart companies like Spotify, Amazon, and Airbnb? Why do they consistently build software that we love to use?

The answer lies in their approach to product development. These companies understand a fundamental truth that Steve Jobs articulated so well: “A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” And as far back as Henry Ford as well said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

Product engineering isn’t about blindly following customer requests or building features that someone thinks people want. It’s about deeply understanding customer problems and innovating on their behalf. It’s about creating solutions that customers might not even realize they need – yet come to love.

The Need for a New Approach

In the traditional models many companies have built, engineers are often isolated from the product side of things. They’re told to focus solely on coding, “go code, do what you are good at”, protect this precious engineering resource, and don’t let them be disturbed by non-engineering things, with the assumption that someone else will worry about whether the product actually enhances the customer’s life or gets used at all.

This leads to what I call the “feature factory” – a system where engineers are fed requirements through tools like Jira, expected to churn out code, and measured solely on their ability to deliver features to specification. The dreaded term “pixel perfect” comes to mind. But this approach misses a crucial point: the true measure of our work isn’t in the features we ship, but in the value we create for our customers and our business.

Product engineering flips this model on its head. It brings engineers into the heart of the product development process, encouraging them to think deeply about the problems they’re solving and the impact of their work. It’s about creating cross-functional teams that are empowered to make decisions, experiment, and iterate quickly based on real-world feedback.

Looking Ahead

As we dive deeper into this series on Product Engineering, we’ll explore the specific skills, mindsets, and practices that define this approach. We’ll look at how to build empowered, cross-functional teams, how to make decisions in the face of uncertainty, and how to measure success in ways that truly matter.

The evolution of product engineering isn’t just a trend – it’s a necessary adaptation to the realities of modern software development. By embracing this approach, we can create better products, reduce waste, and ultimately deliver more value to our customers and our businesses.

Stay tuned for our next post, where we’ll dive deeper into what exactly makes a product engineering team tick.

What’s your experience with traditional software development versus more modern, product-focused approaches? Share your thoughts in the comments below!