I like the first answer from quora, but with one exception.. That being an understanding of business and priorities. Great engineers understand that ultimately,

I like the first answer from quora, but with one exception.. That being an understanding of business and priorities. Great engineers understand that ultimately, they're responsible for shipping product in a business setting. In your personal open source project or side projects you can afford to be experimental and push the box, but when you're in a business setting, you need to balance the need to ship with the desire and drive to be experimental and solid. Get from point A to point B balancing risk, reward, and speed.