Engineering
Engineering refers both to a role (engineers or tech leads) and the technical work of building products. Engineers are members of product teams who write code and build software, bringing depth of knowledge about what's possible with technology.
What role does the tech lead play in the product trio?
The tech lead (or engineering lead) is one of the three members of the product trio who should participate in discovery, not just delivery. Because we all engage with the world from a unique perspective—with different knowledge, expertise, and past experiences—we each select different data, attach different meanings to that data, make different assumptions, and often draw different conclusions.
Engineers bring unique knowledge, expertise, and experiences to discovery. They select different data during customer interviews based on their technical domain expertise, leading to different conclusions than product managers or designers would draw. This is exactly why we talk about the trio (the product manager, the design lead, and the tech lead) leading discovery together.
Why should engineers participate in discovery?
When it comes to generating solutions, engineers often come up with the best solutions. It's not because engineers are the most creative or the smartest people on the team. It's because they have depth of knowledge about what's possible with technology that often surpasses everyone else on the team.
But the best solutions are the result of understanding what's possible with technology AND understanding what customers need. If an engineer is going to leverage that depth of knowledge about technology, they also need to build up depth of knowledge about customers' context. The only way to do that is to participate in discovery.
When tech leads participate in discovery, they can answer their own questions about what to build, freeing up the product manager and allowing the team to move faster.
Learn more:
- Product Discovery Basics: Everything You Need to Know
- Why Engineers Should Participate in Discovery
Related terms:
- Product Trio
- Tech Lead
- Continuous Discovery
- Design
Last Updated: October 25, 2025