At standup, the team made a call. The feature they needed wouldn't be ready in time, but they found an undocumented API that could work. Problem solved. Deadline safe. Two months later, they went through the full release process again. And external testing. And additional regulatory costs. The workaround didn't work across all jurisdictions. The customer complained. Engineers are highly trained problem solvers. You're amazing at finding problems to solve and finding solutions to them. That's what makes you valuable. It's also what gets you in trouble. The problem with being good at problems When you see a problem, you solve it. That's the job, right? Not always. The team saw a clear problem: the platform feature wouldn't be ready before the deadline. They identified a solution using an undocumented API. They executed and hit the date. But they never asked if the date mattered. Product management was never consulted about waiting one month. No one asked ...