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> (1) Does the roadmap clearly connect to the higher-level company or product mission, vision, and strategy? Okay, engineers are now supposed to evaluate the r

> (1) Does the roadmap clearly connect to the higher-level company or product mission, vision, and strategy? Okay, engineers are now supposed to evaluate the roadmap to strategic goals. in principle all good that everybody is involved in lining up with strategy. But the caveat here is, the CPO and leadership team should do this. And if this does not resonate with the engineers, is it really wise to educate the product manager by sending him/her some literature on how to do strategy? I would suggest to handle this if this occurs with more care. And also consider that many very successful companies did not have a written mission and strategy, it is usually introduced in the scale up phase when stakeholders demand more on the why and how.

proc0 3y ago
Unfortunately that is a common expectation for any engineer higher than junior level. It's a strange attempt to get engineers to own vertical slices of the company, as if they were managing their own business within the business. The problem is that product owners and managers are not learning software engineering to better communicate, design etc., This is a one way street, engineers have more and more non-technical responsibilities until they are barely coding and then are forced to manage a team of junior engineers to do the code for them.
- xctr94 3y ago
  Cue ‘Developer Hegemony’, a great book on this topic. Yes, as an engineer, you should be interested in vision/strategy/product. Otherwise you’re just executing, and the opportunists will get promoted ahead of you. The book explains it much better than me.
  - j-a-a-p 3y ago
    Response from Amazon/Kindle: > This title is not currently available for purchase - Have you moved recently? Apparently this book did not pass the Dutch or Amazon censor. Makes me extra curious.
    - xctr94 3y ago
      It was published by the author as a DRM-free ebook in all formats. You can get it from, say, Bol and convert it. Or directly from Daedtech’s website.
aiunboxed 3y ago
Also engineers would need to manage their technical roadmaps - consisting of tech debt and other infra stuff. Every engineer should know the basics of product atleast

proc0 3y ago

Unfortunately that is a common expectation for any engineer higher than junior level. It's a strange attempt to get engineers to own vertical slices of the company, as if they were managing their own business within the business. The problem is that product owners and managers are not learning software engineering to better communicate, design etc., This is a one way street, engineers have more and more non-technical responsibilities until they are barely coding and then are forced to manage a team of junior engineers to do the code for them.

xctr94 3y ago
Cue ‘Developer Hegemony’, a great book on this topic. Yes, as an engineer, you should be interested in vision/strategy/product. Otherwise you’re just executing, and the opportunists will get promoted ahead of you. The book explains it much better than me.
- j-a-a-p 3y ago
  Response from Amazon/Kindle: > This title is not currently available for purchase - Have you moved recently? Apparently this book did not pass the Dutch or Amazon censor. Makes me extra curious.
  - xctr94 3y ago
    It was published by the author as a DRM-free ebook in all formats. You can get it from, say, Bol and convert it. Or directly from Daedtech’s website.

aiunboxed 3y ago

Also engineers would need to manage their technical roadmaps - consisting of tech debt and other infra stuff. Every engineer should know the basics of product atleast