Drew Hoskins is the author of The Product-Minded Engineer and has spent more than 20 years building products and platforms at Microsoft, Meta, Stripe, and Temporal. His work and writing focus on helping engineers develop a product mindset by understanding their users, deciding what’s worth building, and turning technical expertise into better products.
In our conversation, we discuss:
1. Why great code can fail to win adoption, and how product thinking helps engineers increase their impact
2. How to learn from users through support records, sales calls, GitHub issues, and product metrics
3. How user scenarios reveal “plot holes,” guide prioritisation, and become tests that reflect real usage
4. What Drew learned as a PM at Temporal, and how tools help make product-minded habits last
5. Why AI may create software generalists, how to review AI-generated tests, and practical exercises to start tomorrow
Episode transcript: https://productengineers.com/episodes/season2/how-to-become-a-product-minded-engineer-in-the-ai-era
Where to find Drew Hoskins:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewhoskins2/
• Substack: https://drewhoskins.substack.com/
Where to find Peppe:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peppesilletti/
• X: https://x.com/peppesilletti
• Website: https://peppesilletti.io
Where to find The Product Engineers Podcast:
• Website: https://productengineers.com
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction and what product-minded engineering means
(05:39) Developer experience, adoption, and engineering career impact
(10:47) Getting closer to users through conversations and data
(15:25) User scenarios, plot holes, and meaningful tests
(22:01) Lessons from Temporal and building a product-minded culture
(28:21) AI coding, reviewing tests, and the software generalist
(33:57) Collaboration, daily habits, and exercises to get started
Referenced:
• The Product-Minded Engineer: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/the-product-minded-engineer/9781098173722/