Business Sense: A Transformative Skill for Engineers
And How Managers Can Help Develop This Essential Yet Underrated Skill for Engineers to Thrive
Have you ever hit a point in your career where you realized that technical skills alone weren’t enough to make the impact you wanted? You’ve mastered the code, optimized systems, and solved complex problems—but something was missing.
It happened to me. For many engineers, that moment comes when they realize that business sense isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s the secret ingredient that can take their technical expertise to new heights. Knowing why you’re building something, understanding the business drivers behind your work, and aligning with customer needs—these insights make you more than just an engineer. They make you a key player in the company’s success.
What if you could harness your technical skills to make strategic decisions that drive real impact on your company’s goals? That’s the power of business sense—one of the most underrated skills an engineer can develop. Let me share how I began building my business acumen and how managers can help their people develop theirs.
How I Transformed from Average to Impactful as an Engineer
If you have been reading my posts, you know I’ve shared stories about how I cultivated particular skills and behaviors that helped me grow. Still, one experience stands out—a pivotal moment that gave my career an unexpected and powerful boost.
I still remember the best onboarding I ever had. During my first days at a new company, my manager said, “Rafa, you’re going to have some shadowing sessions.” I had no idea what shadowing meant then, but it was one of the best learning opportunities I’d ever encountered.
Shadowing colleagues across departments—marketing, sales, customer service, and more—gave me insights into the why behind our work. I began to understand how our product fit into the bigger picture and why certain features, fixes, or optimizations were prioritized. This experience changed everything. I went from thinking, “Is this the best code I can write?” to asking, “Is this code good enough to drive our sales, support our marketing efforts, and help customer service make their work easier?”
This shift in mindset—from writing code to driving impact—transformed me from an average engineer to one focused on making a meaningful difference. My work began connecting with real company goals, and my new business sense became a powerful asset, creating tangible value for users and the organization. This transformation, from a product-minded, business-aware perspective, set me on the path from engineer to Lead Engineer and, ultimately, to Engineering Manager.
I went from thinking, “Is this the best code I can write?” to asking, “Is this code good enough to drive our sales, support our marketing efforts, and help customer service make their work easier?”
Why Business Sense is a Game-Changer for Engineers
Imagine a skilled chef who has mastered every cooking technique but has never stepped into the dining room to see how customers react. One day, the owner has them shadow the waitstaff. Watching customers, the chef notices which dishes bring guests back, which ones fall flat, and what keeps them lingering.
In the kitchen, the chef starts making dishes that resonate with customers, transforming their work from merely cooking to creating experiences that drive the restaurant’s success.
Similarly, when engineers step beyond their “coding kitchen” to understand the business and customer needs, their technical skills become tools for real impact, transforming them into critical drivers of the company’s success.
Helping engineers develop business acumen benefits their immediate tasks and transforms them into strategic thinkers. Business-savvy engineers find greater fulfillment by recognizing the impact of their work, enabling them to prioritize effectively and make strategic decisions. With a broader understanding of the business landscape, they can view their efforts from technical, customer, and business perspectives, reshaping their approach to problem-solving and enhancing their overall impact.
How Managers Can Help Engineers Develop Business Sense
Developing business sense can be transformative for engineers, helping them make more impactful decisions and connect their technical work to broader company goals. As a manager, you play a pivotal role in fostering this skill within your team.
Here are a few ways to help your engineers build business acumen:
Introduce Shadowing Opportunities: Organize shadowing sessions with relevant departments. Shadowing allows engineers to observe how other teams operate, understand customer needs, and see firsthand how their work impacts different parts of the business. This cross-functional insight builds empathy and gives engineers a holistic view of the company’s goals.
Explain the Business “Why” Behind Projects: When assigning tasks or projects, go beyond the technical requirements and discuss the business goals driving the work. Explain how a feature supports a sales initiative, enhances the customer experience, or strengthens market positioning. Understanding the “why” behind projects helps engineers prioritize tasks that add the most value.
Encourage Cross-Functional Collaboration: Encourage engineers to work on cross-functional teams or projects that involve product managers, marketing, or operations. This hands-on collaboration with non-engineering roles deepens their understanding of how each department contributes to success and reveals how engineering decisions impact others.
Align Performance Metrics with Business Impact: Set KPIs for engineers that reflect both technical excellence and business outcomes. For example, metrics like customer satisfaction, user retention, or operational efficiency provide engineers with a clear link between their work and the company’s success, motivating them to make decisions that align with these outcomes.
Share Regular Business Updates and Insights: In addition to the company-wide “all-hands meetings,“ host regular sessions where you effectively communicate insights on company performance, customer feedback, or industry trends. This keeps engineers connected to the big picture and helps them adapt their work to changing priorities or market demands, giving them a sense of ownership in the company’s success.
These methods are standard, but many more can be adapted to fit your environment and company. For example, setting up shadowing sessions may be challenging in a fully remote organization, whereas regular “coffee chats” could be much easier and quite effective.
Using these strategies, you can encourage technical growth and help your engineers gain the business skills they need to make a real impact. This change can transform them from skilled engineers into valuable, strategic bridge builders.
Final Thoughts
Business sense is an invaluable skill for engineers, turning technical expertise into strategic influence that can drive both personal and organizational growth. While coding skills are the foundation of any engineer’s career, understanding the broader business landscape takes their impact to the next level. By connecting their work to company goals, customer needs, and market trends, engineers can shift from simply executing tasks to making decisions that truly move the needle.
As managers, creating opportunities for engineers to develop this perspective—through shadowing, cross-functional projects, or simply sharing the “why” behind each project—amplifies the value they bring to the team. When engineers grasp how their work aligns with business objectives, they become empowered, engaged, and more impactful contributors.
Encouraging business acumen isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a career-boosting skill that helps engineers grow beyond their technical roles, positioning them as key players in their company’s success.
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Great article Rafa, I really enjoyed it!
We had an initiative called ‘copilot’, wheee people where paired across the organization for 2 sessions - one for each side, where they shared in real time whar kind of work they were doing. Unfortunately not many people wanted to participate :/
What’s your tip for making the engineers want to have those shadowing sessions?