The Engineer to Executive Translation Layer

Executives make decisions based on company-wide impact, resource constraints, and strategic goals, so any engineering proposal must speak their language. The article shows that understanding the CEO and CTO motivations-direction setting, resource allocation, risk management-allows engineers to position ideas as business solutions rather than technical niceties. It stresses asking the right questions of execs to surface stakeholder pressures and to demonstrate how a proposal aligns with those pressures.

The piece explains why engineering and executive vocabularies diverge. Terms like API, CI/CD, or latency carry little meaning for leaders focused on EBITDA, customer satisfaction, or brand reputation. By translating technical details into outcomes-cost savings, risk reduction, or revenue impact-engineers make their work visible and worthwhile. It also highlights the time scarcity of execs, arguing that concise, outcome-focused communication wins attention.

Practical tactics include anticipating the eight common exec questions-cost, alternatives, timing, metrics, risks, ownership, cross-team impact, and fallback plans-and embedding answers directly in proposals. It advises framing facts with the "so what" to link engineering data (e.g., doubled build times) to concrete business cost, and to keep communications brief: one page, a few slides, or a short meeting.

Finally, the article positions the engineer as the translation layer, not the CTO. By doing the extra work of mapping technical work to business outcomes, engineers reduce friction, speed up decisions, and build credibility. This habit pays off across roles and companies, making communication the most valuable leadership skill.