Nobody Taught You to Think in Products
Computer Science teaches you to think in algorithms. Bootcamps teach you to think in frameworks. Neither teaches you to think in products.
And that gap is costing you.
The Missing Layer
Most developers can answer: "How do I build this?" Few can answer: "Should we build this at all?"
The first question is about execution. The second is about judgment. And judgment is what separates engineers who create value from those who just consume resources.
What Thinking in Products Actually Means
When you think in products, you see features differently.
A ticket says "Add a notification system." A code-focused engineer asks: "What framework should I use? How do I structure the database?"
A product-focused engineer asks: "Why do users need notifications? What behavior are we trying to drive? How will we know if this worked?"
Same feature. Completely different approach.
The Three Lenses
Product thinking means looking at every piece of work through three lenses:
1. The User Lens Who is this for? What problem are they experiencing? How does this fit into their workflow? What will frustrate them? What will delight them?
2. The Business Lens Why does this matter to the company? What metric does this move? What's the opportunity cost of building this instead of something else?
3. The Technical Lens How do we build this well? What are the tradeoffs? How do we make this maintainable?
Most engineers only use the third lens. The best engineers use all three.
Why This Matters More Now
AI is making the technical lens commoditized. Tools can write code, generate tests, and even architect systems.
What AI can't do (yet): Understand nuanced user problems. Navigate political tradeoffs. Make judgment calls about what's worth building.
The engineers who only bring technical skills are competing with AI. The engineers who bring product thinking are leveraging AI.
The Practical Shift
How do you start thinking in products?
Before you code, ask:
- What user problem does this solve?
- How will we measure success?
- What's the simplest version that could work?
While you code, consider:
- Am I solving the stated problem or the real problem?
- What edge cases matter to users vs. what's just theoretical?
- Where should I invest in quality vs. move fast?
After you ship, observe:
- Did users behave as expected?
- What did we learn?
- What should we do differently next time?
The Career Multiplier
Engineers who think in products get different opportunities.
They get invited to planning meetings. They get trusted with ambiguous problems. They get ownership of product areas, not just codebases.
They become the engineers that founders and product leaders want on their team.
The Uncomfortable Truth
Nobody taught you to think in products because most engineering education was designed for a different era — when developers were expensive and clearly separated from "the business."
That era is ending.
The new era rewards engineers who understand users, business, and technology. Who can go from problem to solution without needing their hand held.
Product thinking isn't a nice-to-have anymore. It's the skill that will define who thrives and who gets left behind.
Stop thinking in code. Start thinking in products.