How can engineers get involved in product work when they usually receive a roadmap, finished designs, and a ticket to implement? Teresa Torres, product discovery coach and author of Continuous Discovery Habits, explains how engineers can participate while the team is still learning about customer problems and deciding what to build.
In our conversation, we discuss:
1. Why getting involved before sprint planning gives engineers more room to contribute
2. How to build relationships and ask for customer and business context
3. How to find people with the problem your product solves and collect specific stories
4. Why AI coding agents still need product, design, and engineering expertise
5. How to bring what you learn to the team and influence change through your own habits
Episode transcript: https://productengineers.com/episodes/season2/how-engineers-can-get-involved-in-product-work-teresa-torres-continuous-discovery-habits-author/
Where to find Teresa Torres:
• Product Talk: https://www.producttalk.org/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresatorres/
• X: https://x.com/ttorres
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:
(01:05) Why engineers need a say in what gets built
(04:09) Getting involved before sprint planning
(06:38) Building trust and asking for product context
(14:38) AI coding agents and the product trio
(24:39) Why tiny product teams may not stay tiny
(27:32) Finding people with the problem your product solves
(30:33) Learning from specific stories and spotting product gaps
(39:14) Bringing what you learn back to the team
(41:47) Changing your habits, humility, and where to find Teresa
Referenced:
• Continuous Discovery Habits: https://www.producttalk.org/continuous-discovery-habits/
• Product trios: https://www.producttalk.org/product-trios/
• Customer interviews: https://www.producttalk.org/customer-interviews/
• Product Talk Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@ProductTalkVideos
• All Things Product Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@AllThingsProductPodcast