It’s a Syntax Problem

I’m both a software engineer and an electrical engineer.

Here are some things we say (a lot) to the marketing and product teams.

“That won’t work.”
“It can’t do that.”
“That’s impossible.”

We say these things because we believe our job is to be the source of truth. We believe in (our) reality. What do the non-engineers know about reality and what we can actually build? Physics is a thing, you know?

If you’re rolling your eyes, I get it. You should be. Engineers absolutely deserve the reputation that we enjoy, such as negative nellies, the department of “no,” and visionless.

However, what we really have is a syntax problem.

When you know the syntax of how to do something, you can get stuck in the “this is what we can do” loop because you’re stuck in the “this is what I know how to do” loop.

But you never know all of the syntax or all of the creative ways you can put that syntax together. And that’s the problem

It’s a syntax problem.