Michael Lopp: The Product Engineer

Michael Lopp – The Product Engineer:

“They honestly claim this voting structure not because they want all the power; they want to cast the tie-breaking vote when there is gridlock occasionally. And, ya’know, sometimes someone needs to decide, ya’know, just to keep moving things along.

Bullshit. They do want the power.”

“A Product Engineer:

  • … Intimately knows how the products work and can explain any feature or inner workings to anyone. When they find a gap in their knowledge, they fill it.
  • Have a deep understanding of how users perceive their features and how their changes would affect their perception. They can wear the customer mindset.
  • … Have living breathing code in the product — right now.
  • … Communicates well in every direction because they’ve developed professional relationships in all those directions.
  • Are aggressively curious and willing to learn anything relevant to the design and development of the product, especially when it’s outside of their area of expertise.”