product engineering

I’ve been thinking about product engineers lately.

At startups, engineers own the product. They think deeply about what’s being built, why it matters, how users will interact with it. But at bigger companies, that energy fades. Things feel mechanical.

Maybe it’s because at a startup, there is no “someone else”, you’re it. Or maybe it’s because what you’re building actually matters to you, not just to a roadmap. Everything feels higher stakes.

I know this for sure: if I ever start my own company, I want product engineers. People who think beyond code. People who start from a product mindset and take real ownership.

I don’t know how easy it’ll be to keep that alive in a large organization, but I’ll try.

Bless.