Key Questions for Evaluation
The diagnostic question asks whether the company's FDEs ship code into the vendor's own product.
Why a Healthy-Looking Team Can Mislead
Imagine you are evaluating a company's forward deployed engineering work. You find a team with the title, a job posting that mentions forward deployed engineers, and engineers who spend their days working closely with customers. At first glance this looks like a healthy FDE function. The source for this article argues that this first impression can be wrong, because the presence of FDE roles does not tell you what the function really is.
This article introduces a single diagnostic question that cuts through that impression. Before you read it, try to guess the kind of evidence that would actually separate a real FDE function from one that only looks real. Think about what the engineers' work is for and where that work ends up. Keep your guess in mind, because the question you are about to meet tests exactly those two things.
Predicting Where FDE Code Goes
What do you think happens?
When an FDE writes code to solve one customer's problem, where can that code end up?
Reveal answer
The code can stay in the customer's deployment or move into the vendor's shared product codebase. Which one happens is exactly what the diagnostic question asks you to check.
The source frames the whole evaluation as a question of destination: the work either feeds the vendor's product or stays outside it. The source does not say the code is always discarded, so that option is not supported by the source.
The Question About Destination
The diagnostic question asks whether the company's FDEs ship code into the vendor's own product. It is a test about destination, not about activity.
The question does not ask whether FDEs write code, whether they work with customers, or whether they are highly skilled. Each of those can be true in a cargo-cult setting as well as a real one. What the question asks is where the code they write ends up. If that code becomes part of the vendor's own product, the work feeds the product. If it does not, the work stays outside the product, even when it looks like engineering.
The question is useful because it is a diagnostic rather than a description. Titles, team names, and customer-facing schedules are all things a company can present on its own terms. Whether code lands in the vendor's shipped product is a much harder thing to fake. That difficulty is what turns the question into a test you can actually apply.
The answer sorts a company into one of two categories: a real FDE function, where code ships into the product, or the cargo-cult version, where it does not. The labels a company uses do not change which category it falls into.
Why Titles and Visible Activity Settle Nothing
The source is explicit that job titles and customer-facing activity do not settle the question, because the same visible work can occur in either version of the function. A real FDE function and a cargo-cult version can look identical from the outside. Both can have the same titles, the same job postings, and engineers who spend time with customers. The diagnostic question is what reveals which one you are looking at.
| Observable feature | Real FDE function | Cargo-cult version |
|---|---|---|
| FDE job title | Present | Present |
| Engineers working with customers | Present | Present |
| Code destination | Ships into the vendor's product | Stays outside the product |
| Verdict from the diagnostic question | Real FDE function | Cargo-cult version |
Visible features can match in both cases. Only the destination of the code separates them.
Notice what the comparison shows. The customer engagements appear in both columns, so they cannot be the deciding feature. The only column difference that the diagnostic question checks is where the output goes.
Applying the Question to a Company
Checking a hypothetical company's FDE practice
Company A describes its FDE practice with a team name, a job posting for forward deployed engineers, and a weekly schedule of customer site visits. Does the diagnostic question say this is a real FDE function or a cargo-cult version?
- 1Set aside the visible evidence
The team name, job posting, and site visits are all things the company can present on its own terms. The source says these do not settle the question, so they do not produce a verdict on their own.
- 2Ask the destination question
Ask whether the code the FDEs write for customers ships into Company A's own product. This is the single question the source uses to sort the two categories.
- 3Trace a recent customer fix
Pick one fix an FDE wrote for a customer and follow it. If the fix is part of the shipped product, the work feeds the product. If it remains only in that customer's deployment, the work stays outside the product.
- 4Assign the verdict
If the traced code ships into the product, the practice matches the real FDE function. If it does not, the practice matches the cargo-cult version, even though the engineering looks real.
The verdict depends on the destination of the code, not on the titles or the customer activity. Company A's practice is real only if its FDEs' code ships into the vendor's product.
Where the Answer Leads Your Career
The source adds a second consequence to the same question. The answer also tells you whether your career in the role will compound into product judgment or stay in services engineer mode. The diagnostic question is therefore not only about the company's structure. It is also a way of asking what you will be learning and building over time.
When your code ships into the product, you are exposed to the product's decisions and tradeoffs. The source ties this kind of exposure to product judgment. When your work stays in customer-specific delivery, the source describes the result as services engineer mode. Read the table below as a summary of those two trajectories, and use the diagnostic question to anticipate which one a role is likely to produce.
| Question | Compounds into product judgment | Stays in services engineer mode |
|---|---|---|
| Where does your code go? | Into the vendor's shipped product | Into customer-specific delivery |
| What are you exposed to? | The product's decisions and tradeoffs | Individual customer work |
| What does the diagnostic question say? | Code ships into the product | Code does not ship into the product |
Both trajectories are described in the source through the same destination test.
Mistakes When Using the Question
Common mistake Trusting the job title as proof of a real FDE function
What it looks likeA company posts a forward deployed engineer role and concludes the function is healthy.
Why it failsThe source states that titles do not settle the question, because the same title can sit on either version of the function.
Do this insteadAsk where the code the role produces ends up, and check that answer before deciding.
Common mistake Treating heavy customer contact as evidence of a real function
What it looks likeEngineers visit customers every week, so the company must be doing real FDE work.
Why it failsThe source notes that customer-facing activity can occur in either version, so it does not separate them.
Do this insteadKeep customer contact as context, and make the destination of the code the deciding test.
Common mistake Judging the question by how skilled the engineers are
Why it failsThe question does not ask whether FDEs are highly skilled. It asks where their code ends up.
Do this insteadEvaluate destination first, and treat skill as a separate consideration.
Common mistake Assuming the answer only affects the company and not your own career
Applying the Question Yourself
A company tells you its FDEs spend most days with customers, have strong engineering titles, and publish case studies about their work. Using only the diagnostic question, what single piece of evidence would you ask for, and what would each possible answer tell you about the company and about your own career in the role?
Hints
- The source says titles and customer-facing activity cannot settle the question.
- Focus on where the code the FDEs write ends up.
- Consider both the company verdict and the career trajectory the answer implies.
Key Takeaways
- The diagnostic question asks whether the company's FDEs ship code into the vendor's own product, which makes it a test of destination rather than activity.
- Job titles and customer-facing work can look identical in a real FDE function and a cargo-cult version, so they cannot settle the verdict on their own.
- The same answer shows whether your career will compound into product judgment, through exposure to product decisions and tradeoffs, or stay in services engineer mode.
- To apply the question, trace where a specific FDE fix ends up, and let that destination decide whether the practice is real or cargo cult.