Chapter 1 of 4
The Foundations of Product Thinking
Core primitives of product thinking and why user empathy is the most undervalued engineering skill.
Key Insights
Technical skills alone are not enough for career advancement — you need to deepen your empathy for users.
Product thinking is a learnable skill, not an innate talent. It starts with curiosity about how and why people use your software.
The best engineers don't just build what's asked — they understand the problem deeply enough to propose better solutions.
Notes
What Is a Product-Minded Engineer?
A product-minded engineer bridges engineering prowess and product insight. They care about the 'why' behind features, not just the 'how.' They understand user needs, think about edge cases from the user's perspective, and proactively suggest improvements. This mindset applies whether you're building consumer products, internal tools, or developer platforms.
The Double Diamond Process Model
The book uses the Double Diamond as a framework: first diverge to explore the problem space broadly, then converge to define the right problem. Then diverge again to explore solutions, and converge to build the right solution. Most engineers only participate in the second diamond — product-minded engineers engage in both.
Start with User Empathy
Before writing any code, ask: Who is the user? What is their goal? What frustrates them today? What does success look like from their perspective? These questions seem simple but most engineers skip them, jumping straight to implementation details.
The Builder's Trap
Engineers often fall into the builder's trap: measuring success by features shipped rather than user problems solved. Shipping fast feels productive, but building the wrong thing fast is waste. Product thinking helps you build the right thing.
Quotes
“Being product-minded is what separates decent software engineers from great ones at startups and Big Tech.”
“In an age where AI handles the syntax, engineers who master user empathy and product thinking will define the future of software.”