This scenario is all too familiar for engineers in high-growth companies: Requests are pouring in from all ends of the business, and priorities can shift on a whim. Can you ship two weeks early? Can you get this feature into this month’s launch rather than the next? Can you add features before it goes out (on schedule, of course)?

Everyone on the team feels like they have too much to do, and often the default response is one of two things: 1) You say “yes” immediately, not delivering and losing credibility, or 2) you say  “no” right away and build a wall between engineering and the rest of the business.

Neither one is an optimal solution.

By sheer logic, you can’t do it all. But that doesn’t mean you need to shut down requests as soon as they come in. In my experience, the best engineering teams (or any kind of team for that matter) are ones that master the art of making a recommendation to help the business — be it product, sales or marketing — make better decisions.

To Ship Or Not To Ship? Make A Recommendation

Before making a recommendation, it’s important to sit in the other person’s seat to understand what business problem they’re trying to solve and why.

Once you’ve taken a look holistically at the goals and assessed the potential impact of the request, it’s time to help the business understand the tradeoffs. Instead of saying “yes” or “no” immediately, give a recommendation that will help the business make informed decisions.

Start by providing three options or scenarios that could work. You’ll have a bias toward one of these options — that will be your recommendation. But it’s important to present other options, along with the corresponding risks and rewards: