Stay close to the money
We will need to see how everything we're doing is contributing to the bottom line in terms of revenue. And that's a new way of thinking about technical teams. Before, the challenge used to be: you need technical people to build the vision out, and then the sales team and product team goes ahead to sell it. But right now the line is blurred, because we're not spending time coding ourselves.
And so, what else makes you a better engineer and better technical person? My thesis is that the more you're connected to the bottom line of the business, the more valuable you are as a team member. Because now nobody can tell you you're being replaced with AI, because AI is not going to help you make money.
As an engineer, you're going to be responsible for X, Y and Z. And that X, Y and Z, if you draw the line just close enough, you will see how it touches revenue.
Said out loud in a team meeting, 13 April 2026. Trimmed for filler; not rewritten.