Want to build ethically, faster? Bring your Engineers to user tests.
Build & Sell Your AI Product Faster
If you're a PM in 2025 and not bringing your Engineers to user tests and feedback sessions, you're making everyone’s job harder than it has to be.
Here’s why.
The Obvious Advantages
📌 It saves time: Developers can spot technical issues in real time, sometimes fixing them before they even hit the backlog.
📌 It boosts team empathy: Watching users struggle (or succeed) changes how Engineers see their work. It’s no longer just tickets; it's real people, real problems, real impact.
📌 It’s fun: Am I the only one who finds user tests to be an oddly great team bonding activity? User tests are such a delightful mix of ups, downs, frustration, wins, and comedy. Waaaaay more engaging than another backlog refinement session.
📌 It reduces iterations: Experiencing the why behind decisions minimizes rework. It’s basically science. Probably.
📌 It helps you advocate: Even one engineer joining can become an ally in pushing for necessary changes. Suddenly, you're not the lone voice in the wilderness, now it’s a duet… maybe even a full-blown rebellion.
The Less Obvious Advantages
In 2025, user testing isn’t just about usability; it’s about responsibility. If we want to build better, more ethical products, bringing Developers into these conversations isn't optional.
Engineers who participate in user tests and feedback sessions gain a deeper understanding of users' concerns. They hear the questions firsthand, start ideating solutions, and maybe, just maybe, realize users don’t actually read the tooltips.
📌 It gives their job more meaning: Seeing their work impact real lives makes coding more than just a task, it becomes a way to shape technology's role in society. Way more fulfilling than just fixing another bug named 'Final_Final_v2’.
📌 It raises real-world risk awareness: User fears, frustrations, and workarounds shape safety mechanisms that actually work. Because "technically secure" means nothing if users find a way to turn ‘password1234’ into a family tradition.
📌 It helps spot early ethical red flags: Users often bring concerns no one in the room had considered. When Engineers see these firsthand, they can fix issues early.
📌 It enables proactive fixes instead of patches: Ethical issues are harder and costlier to fix post-launch. Some aren’t fixable at all. Having Engineers in the loop ensures safeguards are built upfront, before problems become headline news. This aligns with the "Fix ethics after lunch, not after launch" approach.
Fine, but what if they don’t want to participate?
If your Engineers hesitate, ask them to try it once. Chances are, they'll never look at their work the same way again.
This approach has been a game-changer for me. What’s been your experience?
See also:
Love the post! Think it's super important, I do this often, and our engineers are always really interested in observing a moderated test, or watching some sessions or going through feedback from unmoderated sessions. I've honestly found it invaluable. When you can help connect the team to the why and the real people they are building it for, it's only ever an advantage.
I try to weave in clips and highlight reels into slack channels, Jira epics, and include our full Product and engineering people into as much user testing sessions as possible.
(My only caveat is I do work at UserTesting currently, so the ethos and cultural mindset at our company is exactly that, and at the heart of the work, but its not always fore-front of mind for our engineers, or a priority for them, so it still requires some advocates to bridge the gap)
Many thanks for sharing!!