Engineers
What are engineers?
Engineers (also called software engineers) are one of the three roles that—at a minimum—are required to create good digital products, along with a product manager and a designer. In a product trio, engineers collaborate with the other roles from the beginning of discovery through delivery, producing working software while also participating in customer interviews, opportunity mapping, solution generation, and iterative testing.
Why should engineers participate in discovery?
Historically, engineers have been asked to be order takers who simply code what's asked of them, working in a handoff model where they receive requirements from product managers and mockups from designers. But this approach creates problems: engineers often have opinions about what to build, but those opinions are uninformed because they haven't had contact with customers.
When engineers participate in discovery—staying close to customers through continuous interviewing and testing—they can make decisions from the customer's perspective rather than their own. This transforms them from order takers into essential collaborators who bring technical expertise and perspective to team decisions.
The most common form of cross-functional collaboration in digital product development happens between product managers, designers, and engineers. When all three roles work together from the start, teams can build products that are desirable, usable, feasible, and viable.
Learn more:
- Core Concept: The Product Trio
- Why Engineers Should Participate in Discovery
- Core Concept: Getting Engineers to Embrace the Product Trio
Related terms:
- Product Trio
- Product Manager
- Collaboration
- Customer Interviews
Last Updated: October 25, 2025