Product in Practice: Assumption Testing with Engineers at Orion Labs

This Product in Practice story describes how Ellen Juhlin, a senior product director at Orion Labs, brought engineers into continuous discovery. Engineers often see product work as order-taking, but their technical knowledge and fresh perspective make them valuable discovery partners when paired with customer context. Ellen's team started by inviting engineers into customer interviews, then into opportunity brainstorming and story mapping, and finally into assumption mapping and usability testing. The result was engineers who proposed testable ideas quickly and aligned with the product team on what to build next. The approach matters because it turns engineers from late-stage implementers into co-owners of product decisions.

01Key takeaways

• Invite engineers into customer interviews as listeners or note-takers so they hear customer context directly.
• Frame technical concerns as assumptions to test rather than blockers, which keeps discussion focused and productive.
• Let engineers propose quick prototypes or test builds for the riskiest assumptions to speed up learning.
• Begin with one or two engineers rather than the whole department, and redirect off-topic questions to keep sessions focused.
• Expect discovery to iterate backward and forward; revisit earlier steps as new insights emerge.
• Revisit business goals periodically with engineers so they can prioritize their daily work around customer value.

02Key sections

Why engineers belong in discovery

Engineers hear different things in customer interviews and bring technical insight into solution design. Past habits of treating engineers as code producers have made them reluctant to join discovery.

Starting with customer interviews

Ellen's team first invited one or two engineers to interview planning and interviews as listeners or note-takers. This exposed engineers directly to customer context.

Brainstorming and story mapping solutions

Engineers joined opportunity framing and solution ideation, contributing ideas the product team would not have considered alone.

Assumption mapping and reframing

The team mapped risks as testable assumptions, and Ellen reframed engineers' feasibility questions as assumptions to add to the map.

The win: engineers invested in testing

Once engineers understood the assumptions, they proposed a quick test build and agreed to tweaks after watching user sessions, showing real buy-in.

Practical tips for getting started

Start with a small group, expect the process to loop back, and periodically remind engineers how business goals link to their daily work.

03From the post

“Engineers are often reluctant to participate in discovery. This is only natural: Through years of bad habits, many of us have shown engineers that we only value them for the code they can write. This is a common mistake that Teresa addressed in a Core Concepts post, saying “We’ve”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.