Rebooting Engineering: From Ticket Takers to Business Builders

As startups scale, something dangerous often happens: engineering teams that were once deeply connected to the product and business start drifting into execution mode. They ship features, close tickets but lose sight of the “why.”

In this talk, we’ll explore the subtle but critical shift from tight, business-aware teams to siloed R&D organizations where engineers operate without context. We’ll unpack the real-world consequences: slower delivery, misaligned roadmaps, and a growing gap between what’s built and what the business needs.

Most importantly, we’ll talk about how to fix it.

Drawing from both startup and scale-up experience, we’ll cover concrete ways to maintain product and business awareness as your team grows. From storytelling rituals to architecture choices, you’ll leave with principles and practices that help reboot engineering culture so your teams can think like owners, not just executors.

“For anyone who wants to grow their engineering team without losing its soul.”