Product Engineering: Bridging the Gap Between Product Management and Software Development
How blending product thinking with engineering makes you 10x more valuable
In the past, building software products was a clear division of labor. Product managers defined what to build, designers shaped how it looked, and engineers implemented the plan. Over time, this model has evolved. Startups and high-growth companies realized that the best products are often built by teams where engineers deeply understand the “why” behind their work – the user needs, business goals, and trade-offs. This mindset has led to the rise of product engineering, a role that blends the builder’s skill set of a software engineer with the product intuition of a manager.
What Is Product Engineering?
A product engineer is still a software engineer at heart, but one who takes ownership of the outcome, not just the code. Instead of waiting for a spec, they ask:
“What problem are we solving for the user?”
“Is this the right solution?”
Product engineers talk to users, analyze metrics, and iterate quickly based on feedback. They bridge the gap between execution and strategy, ensuring that features are not only well-built but also meaningful. As Michael Lopp (Rands in Repose) notes, “The product engineer role expands to include all the responsibilities of the Product Manager (and a little bit of Design).”
What Makes a Good Product Manager?
To understand product engineering, it helps to revisit product management. A great PM is often described as the “CEO of the product” – not because they hold power over everyone, but because they own the vision, priorities, and success metrics. As Elad Gil writes in High Growth Handbook, the best PMs:
Clearly define what success looks like.
Ruthlessly prioritize what matters most to users.
Communicate effectively across engineering, design, and leadership.
Have deep user empathy and a willingness to say “no” to distractions.
Where product managers coordinate and set direction, product engineers step into this space on a smaller scale, making product decisions in real time while building.
How Product Engineering Differs
Compared to traditional software engineering, product engineers:
Care as much about why they are building something as how they build it.
Propose ideas, challenge assumptions, and adjust features based on data or feedback.
Take responsibility for whether a feature actually solves a user’s problem, rather than just delivering working code.
Compared to product management, product engineers are makers. They combine strategic thinking with the ability to ship fast, prototype, and iterate without long hand-offs. On small teams, a strong product engineer can cover much of the product function, accelerating development.
Why Has Product Engineering Become Popular?
There are a few reasons why this hybrid role is trending:
Speed: Startups need to move fast. Product engineers reduce the time lost in back-and-forth with PMs.
Ownership: Teams with engineers who understand the user tend to build better products.
Modern tooling: Analytics, feature flags, and user feedback tools are now accessible to engineers directly.
Evolving expectations: Many engineers want to have a say in what they build, not just how.
Companies like Shopify, Atlassian, and Mixpanel have credited product engineers as critical drivers of product success. These engineers act almost like mini-founders within their teams, balancing user experience with technical feasibility.
The Future of Product Engineering
Product engineering is not about eliminating PMs but about creating product-minded engineering teams. Even in organizations with dedicated PMs, engineers who think like product engineers are more valuable: they ship faster, challenge assumptions, and help create products that truly resonate with users.
For software engineers, this trend is an opportunity. Cultivating product sense – understanding user needs, experimenting, and focusing on outcomes – can be a career superpower. In the modern tech world, success isn’t just about writing clean code; it’s about solving real problems.