Iâve worked with plenty of talented devs who could debug gnarly logic, optimize slow queries, and write clever abstractionsâbut struggled to see why their work mattered beyond the next ticket.
Early in my leadership journey, I assumed it was enough to just assign tasks and let people do their thing. After all, I trusted the team. But over time, I realized something was missing. People were shipping code, but they werenât invested. They didnât feel like owners. They were solving technical puzzles, not business problems.
And thatâs when it hit me: we were shipping features without context.
Why Context Matters
When people understand the why behind their workâhow it connects to customers, revenue, or product directionâthey make better decisions. They also care more. They ask smarter questions. They challenge assumptions. They propose better solutions.
Without that context, even the best engineers become task robots.
What Helped Me Turn the Corner
It wasnât a grand strategy. Just a shift in how I communicate:
- Start with the goal. Every task or project starts with a short narrative: what weâre doing, who it helps, and why it matters now. This isnât just for PMsâitâs for everyone.
- Connect to user impact. Even a backend caching change can be tied to how fast a user sees search results. Engineers light up when they realize theyâre shaping experience, not just writing code.
- Regularly share progress at the business level. Not just burndown/burnup charts. Share âwhat this release unlockedâ for the team or customer. Celebrate not just commits, but outcomes.
Seeing the Shift
Once you start being more intentional with sharing context, youâll see something surprising: junior devs will begin asking product-level questions. QA will start offering UX feedback. Engineers will volunteer to talk directly with users (or maybe not, but hey⌠who knows). Itâs not because you asked them toâitâs because they care.
Giving people the bigger picture doesnât dilute focus. It deepens it.
Devs Want Purpose, Not Just Process
We underestimate how hungry smart people are for purpose. When all they see are feature requests and sprint boards, they can lose sight of why they got into tech in the first place: to build things that matter.
Helping your team see the bigger picture is a leadership multiplier. You wonât just ship featuresâyouâll grow people. And in my book, thatâs the better metric.