8 Comments
Aug 12Liked by Fran Soto

I always like it when people have some entrepreneurial ambitions and think like customers or business owners for a second rather than just code head down whatever task they were given.

Caring about the whys will only make your product better.

Excellent advice, Fran, and thanks for the mention!

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author

It's also more rewarding for me. I like understanding what am I doing!

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Aug 19Liked by Fran Soto

Sure, I think it helps everybody because it gives you a sense of purpose, and you see your place even in a big corporation.

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Love this article Fran! This was a super helpful feedback I've received at the start of my career. Clarifying requirements on something assigned to you or a ticket that comes your way does the following:

1. Helps you simplify a requirement or evaluate if its even needed

2. Build product sense

3. (If you need to write code), helps you write a good PR description since a good description should also contain context behind why the code change is needed as well as link design docs, figma mockup, project requirement doc, etc. We want to make sure all info is in writing

4. Helps you communicate impact to others sincw you want others to see you for being a good team player as well as delivering positive impact

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author

I really like the point you make about the PR descriptions! Sometimes discussions on commits are because nobody understands what are the requirements.

Having it clear will speed up the review process!

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Good idea, it reminds me of 5-why analysis where you keep asking "why?" of a requirement until you get to the core reason

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author

I love doing the 5-why exercise. Most of our answers to the first couple of why's are super vague and superficial

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Yeah and then as you get to the last one or two, you actually get to the core of the issue

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