Agree. I much prefer the term ‘product engineer’ to all previous titles. It shouldn’t be a cargo-cult switch where everyone starts calling themselves one, but it is by far the best title as a guiding principle to what we are meant to be doing.

Also, I think we are going to see further evolution in the software industry where the current middle-mgmt layers get wiped out. You are either contributing directly to the product - and you can easily measure that - or, you need to get out of the way.

DevOps is a drive to reduce the number of vertical organisational ‘layers’, ProductEngineering would be a drive to reduce the number of horizontal organisational layers.

IMHO.