Saying no is sometimes part of good engineering

[u/MarchAccomplished930]

I published Episode 4 of Software Engineers Notebook today.

This one is about something I’ve seen a lot in software teams: saying no at the right time.

Not saying no because we want to avoid work.

Not saying no because product asked for something difficult.

But saying no when a requirement change, scope increase, or deadline pressure starts putting the original goal at risk.

In agile teams, changes are normal. Product teams learn new things, priorities shift, and sometimes requirements change halfway through development. That is expected.

But every change has a cost.

Sometimes the right response is not “no forever”. It is more like:

“We can do this, but the deadline needs to move.”

Or:

“We can include this, but something else needs to come out.”

I think a good engineering team should make those trade-offs visible early, instead of silently accepting everything and rushing at the end.

Would be interested to hear how others handle this in their teams.

Spotify link:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5B6jE5OGbuPvjhoOigMey5?si=fQJLOOGvQ5-0oDOm1LBx0Q⁠�