Introduction: The Power of Proactive Engineering

“What’s an ‘in-house’ Python package?” he asked, brow furrowed, clearly puzzled.

If you’ve ever worked in a busy engineering team, you know that moment. There’s no Jira ticket. No Slack thread. Not even a quiet ping in the hallway suggesting something’s wrong. But there it is, day after day: someone stuck re-running the same manual steps, or bumping up against the same error—again. Sometimes you feel the frustration before you even know where it’s coming from. If you pay attention, though, the pattern practically shouts.

This is where proactive engineering earns its stripes. Over the years, I’ve seen small, under-the-radar efforts spark outsized change—initiatives quietly started by someone who cared enough to notice friction and do something about it before it turned into a crisis. I want to share why this mindset is so powerful—and how you can bring more of it into your own work.

There’s an idea from urban studies I keep returning to: the ‘broken windows theory.’ Leave minor annoyances alone and they snowball into major headaches. In tech, those repeated, low-level pains are your “broken windows”—and catching them early isn’t just about saving time. It’s about setting the tone for a culture that values continuous improvement over complacency.

Engineers: The Unique Problem Spotters

Let’s be real—engineers have a vantage point nobody else does. You’re deep in the code most days, but also floating through meetings and cross-team check-ins. You hear about what’s not working long before it bubbles up to a leadership dashboard. That means you’re usually the first to spot the patterns and inefficiencies that quietly eat away at productivity.

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen engineers point out things like endless manual data pulls, or the same authentication bug popping up in every microservice. Product managers might hear isolated gripes, but engineers see the whole forest—not just the trees. They notice recurring themes—the signals that point to bigger organizational waste.

And because you’re talking with everyone—product, QA, customer support, fellow engineers—you become an informal connector across teams. Maybe you notice that a quick script in one corner could save hours for another group. Or you catch when a kludgy workaround could be turned into a real tool everyone benefits from.

But here’s where it gets tricky: so many of these insights just…float by, unspoken and unacted upon. Too often, engineers stick to their assigned tickets and leave those patterns alone. But the real game-changers? They’re the ones who quietly observe and then step up—building fixes that ripple far beyond their original scope.

Chris Coldwell from Quicksilver Software Development puts it bluntly: “Ask the people that use the processes… They have first-hand experience with the pain points and inefficiencies.” (Forbes)

One way I’ve seen teams surface these hidden headaches is by using a ‘Pain Log.’ Invite your team to jot down their recurring gripes for a week—manual steps, repeated errors, anything that makes them roll their eyes. Reviewing those logs together almost always uncovers patterns nobody realized existed.

If you want to go deeper on surfacing meaningful insights from technical routines, transforming data into stories can help your team see hidden patterns that drive action.

The Trap of Waiting for Requests

Even with this unique perspective, it’s easy to get stuck waiting for formal requests before making a move. Most teams live and breathe clear processes—Jira boards, Asana tasks—and there’s safety in sticking to the script. But if you only ever “wait for the ticket,” innovation slows to a crawl, and inefficiency lingers far too long.

When you only react to what’s formally requested, subtle but widespread issues—the friction points that never quite become “projects”—stick around and quietly drain everyone’s energy. Even worse, this habit can erode your sense of agency. Instead of seeing yourself as someone who can make positive change, you start feeling like just another cog in the machine.

Building something unsolicited isn’t the problem. The real mistake is doing it in isolation—without checking if others actually share your pain or want what you’re building. The most impactful solutions start with listening, validating needs, and collaborating early on.

One nudge I’ve seen work: Make recurring issues visible. For example, on ServiceNow’s developer forum, an engineer shared how rolling out daily digest emails listing active tickets helped bring forgotten problems out of hiding—suddenly, old bottlenecks couldn’t stay buried in the backlog (ServiceNow developer forum). A simple dashboard can have the same effect; when everyone sees persistent issues front and center, it sparks conversation—and action—instead of silent suffering.

For teams wrestling with whether to build tools internally or seek outside help, it’s worth considering the tradeoffs between in-house vs outsourcing technical decisions before embarking on new solutions.

From Observation to Action: Building What Everyone Needs

So how do you cross that chasm—from noticing patterns to building tools or fixes that genuinely make life better? It starts with intentional listening and moves through validation and fast feedback cycles. Here’s a framework I’ve come to rely on:

1. Listen for Friction Points

   Don’t tune out the grumbles in meetings or offhand comments over coffee. What tasks keep coming up as headaches? Where are manual steps quietly eating away at everyone’s time? The biggest wins usually cut across team boundaries—look for bottlenecks bigger than just your own group.

2. Validate Before You Build

   Before diving into code, talk to colleagues from different teams: “If I built something to fix this, would you actually use it?” lands better than “Do you want this?” Watch for signs people have tried—and failed—to patch things with makeshift workarounds; that’s when you know you’re onto something real.

3. Build Smart, Not in a Silo

   Don’t disappear into a coding cave and return months later with a grand solution. Start small—a scrappy MVP (Minimum Viable Product) that proves value quickly. Show it off early; people often don’t realize they need something until they see it working. Early feedback keeps you from building something useful only to yourself.

And let me pause here—don’t skip regular demos or check-ins. Ask for critiques. Invite potential users into your process from day one. That builds buy-in and keeps you pointed at what matters most.

If you’re not sure when it’s time to validate quickly versus invest in long-term solutions, understanding the POC vs production decision is an essential part of delivering impact without overcommitting resources.

Real-World Impact: Stories of Proactive Engineering Solutions

This isn’t just theory—these ideas pay off in real teams every day. Here are two stories that have stayed with me:

In another case, engineers built an internal dashboard visualizing system outages before anyone even asked for it. Within months, support ticket volume dropped; teams were spotting issues proactively instead of cleaning up after messes. That single dashboard boosted productivity and morale.

Here’s why this matters: Platform engineering isn’t about buying another tool off the shelf—it’s about crafting practices that help teams deliver software better together. When companies reduce cognitive load and speed up feedback loops, they build not only stronger products but happier developers (Microsoft DevBlogs).

Zooming out further, some organizations are now formalizing this approach through platform engineering. Microsoft Engineering predicts that “by 2026, 80-percent of large software engineering organizations will establish a Platform Engineering team…an answer to technical sprawl and complexity” (Microsoft DevBlogs). The goal? Build ‘paved paths’—supported solutions for common problems—so product teams can innovate instead of constantly reinventing wheels.

For more on building robust processes and making smarter technical calls as you scale solutions across teams, these seven lessons for smarter engineering choices offer practical guidance rooted in real-world experience.

Cultivating a Proactive Mindset

Here’s what I wish every engineer knew: You don’t need special permission or a shiny title to be proactive. It starts with curiosity—and just enough courage to ask “Why do we keep doing it this way?”

Take an honest look at your own routine: What inefficiencies have you accepted as ‘just part of the job’? Where do processes feel like more pain than progress? Which complaints do people stop mentioning because they’re tired of hearing themselves repeat them?

One thing that’s helped me personally: scheduling ‘friction audits’ every month or quarter—a short meeting where everyone shares workflow annoyances out loud. Normalize raising concerns and documenting pain points; it builds psychological safety and helps everyone see that change is possible if we’re willing to name what hurts.

Of course, pushing for change can feel risky—especially in environments ruled by process and precedent. But in my experience, even small actions can create big waves. Don’t wait for perfect conditions; start by sharing observations with peers or managers. Frame your ideas as experiments—not finished products—and find allies who share your pain points.

Becoming known as a proactive engineer is about more than technical chops—it’s about empathy, communication, and persistence. When you consistently surface hidden problems and help build solutions, people start to trust you—not just as someone who spots what’s broken but as someone who cares enough to help fix it.

If you’re aiming to amplify your influence beyond technical skills alone, the skill stacking playbook highlights how broadening your capabilities can multiply impact for both yourself and your team.

In the end, proactive engineering isn’t about predicting every possible issue before it happens—it’s about listening closely, acting thoughtfully, and building bridges across teams. The next time you hear the same complaint twice? Ask yourself: What could I build today that everyone will thank me for tomorrow?

Proactive engineering is more than technical foresight—it’s empathy paired with enough courage to act for the collective good. By tuning into your organization’s daily rhythms and frustrations—and stepping up even when nobody asks—you have the power to spark meaningful change right where you are.

So… what opportunity will you notice—and act on—next?