Introduction

Most engineers don’t own a product. But if you want to be Staff+, you need enough “product sense” to pick winning bets, explain them simply, and leave a paper trail others can follow. 

When you demonstrate product sense, leaders pull you into discussions before the roadmap is locked. Your promotion packet practically writes itself because the decisions, metrics, and outcomes are already captured.

John shapes roadmaps purely through his PTO calendar. You’ll take a more reliable route that reduces churn and rework.

In this module, you’ll learn how to:

1. Distinguish PRDs from design docs to create impactful two-pagers.

2. Write to impact decision makers.

3. Create influence without friction.

4. Ensure choices persist with lightweight RFCs and ADRs.

We’ll refer to a slow “Reports” dashboard as our example throughout the module.