Product Sense for Engineers
Mihaela Draghici
Product Leader with 15+ years experience
Daniel Ghilea
Engineering Director 20 years experience
At senior level, the ceiling is rarely technical.
You’re a strong engineer. You're already great at execution.
You write solid code and review code at a high standard.
You solve hard technical problems.
You design scalable systems. You ship complex features.
But
You may struggle to:
Connect architecture decisions to revenue or risk.
Challenge roadmap choices using business language.
Influence prioritisation without positional authority.
Translate technical language into strategic urgency.
Participate meaningfully in discovery discussions.
The result?
That limits your influence, your growth, and your impact as a strategic contributor.
Because no one trained you in product thinking from an engineering lens.
Most devs focus on the how and often treat the why as a distraction from "real work". To move into strategic alignment, you need to stop treating product sense as a "PM's skill" and start framing it as a technical optimisation for business impact.
This course is designed to move you from the "how" of engineering to the "why" of business impact, bridge the gap between code and commercial reality and give you a competitive edge in a time when AI is making pure execution less differentiated.
What you’ll learn
Learn how to connect technical decisions to business impact, speak clearly in strategy talks, and influence what gets built, not just how.
Clarify what a product actually is and what it isn't.
Recognize The User <> Business <> Tech triad: from balance to tension.
Distinguish requests from real problems with the Request vs Problem Audit Template.
See how business strategy becomes technical investment.
Engineering Investment Canvas.
Use the framework: Strategy → Roadmap → Investment logic → Backlog.
Learn how architecture impacts speed to market.
Reliability, performance, and the economics of trust.
See tech debt as financial exposure, and calculate the Cost of Delay (CoD).
Learn how to present technical decisions in terms of risk, cost, and business impact.
Language Mapping Framework: Align “Dev Speak” to “Business Speak” to reach a shared understanding.
Challenge assumptions constructively and inform proactively to reduce friction and surprise.
Understand where discovery decisions actually get made.
Identify how you can contribute meaningfully to problem framing.
Reframe technical concerns as strategic insights.
Steps to move from "Value via Code" to "Value via Judgment".
Learn directly from Mihaela & Daniel
Mihaela Draghici
Product Leader & Advisor. Creator of the Language Mapping Blueprint.
Daniel Ghilea
Engineering Director 20+ years experience
Who this course is for
This is for:
Senior Engineers & Tech Leads already making architecture decisions who want more influence over product and roadmap decisions.
Aspiring Staff / Principal Engineers who need to move from execution to shaping technical and product strategy.
Engineers stepping into leadership who are expected to contribute to business and roadmap discussions, but were never taught how.
What's included
Live sessions
Learn directly from Mihaela Draghici & Daniel Ghilea in a real-time, interactive format.
Lifetime access
Check the course content and recordings whenever you need to.
Curated community of peers
You’ll join a small group of senior engineers, intentionally curated to ensure meaningful exchange and challenge.
Cost of Delay calculation templates
You'll get a 1-page Refactor ROI worksheet, an Engineering Investment Canvas and a Cost of Delay Google Sheet calculator.
Language Mapping Canvas
Template to use with your teams.
Downloadable frameworks and templates
You will get access to: Request vs. Problem Audit template | The Technical ROI Template | Strategy → Roadmap → Investment logic → Backlog Framework | other frameworks used throughout the course
Certificate of completion
Share your new skills.
Maven Guarantee
Your purchase is backed by the Maven Guarantee.
Course syllabus
18 lessons • 5 projects
Week 1
What Product Sense Really Means (For Engineers)
Week 2
Understand the hierarchy of decision layers: Strategy To Roadmap To Backlog
Schedule
Live sessions
4 hrs
2 live sessions of 2hrs each.
Projects
1 hr
per week
Async content
1-2 hrs
per week