I think a massively underutilized core strength of developers is that we have a working thought process in front of us in the form of code, which can be used f

I think a massively underutilized core strength of developers is that we have a working thought process in front of us in the form of code, which can be used for more than just running a program. In my experience, complexity in the code often reveals not only technical problems, but frequently also points to product and business issues. Exploding complexity and long iteration cycles are often a consequence of bad business decisions. Looking at the points of exploding complexity in the code can sometimes help identify these issues. The key is to make the disciplines work together. Business and product decisions should not trickle "down" to developers. Instead, there should be a working feedback loop. For that to be achieved people need to be team players and talk to each other frequently. It also helps to have a 10% or so generalist in each team member's head to guarantee a shared understanding of a high level perspective. I know, I know — this is all a given in agile methodologies. But in reality, it's unfortunately rarely executed that way.