Two Lenses: Why Products Decay (And What Young Engineers Don’t See Yet)
When you’re early in your tech career, products feel simple.
Good engineering → good product.
Clean code → long-term success.
Thoughtful architecture → scalable future.
It feels rational.
But 10–15 years into the industry, you start seeing something unsettling:
The same product is being viewed through two completely different lenses.
And the tension between those lenses is what often leads to what people now call “enshitification.”
This post is about understanding that dynamic early — before cynicism sets in.
Lens #1: The Engineering Lens
Engineers see products as systems.
You naturally care about:
- Architecture
- Maintainability
- Clean abstractions
- Long-term scalability
- Minimizing technical debt
When you see a shortcut, your brain automatically projects forward:
“This will hurt us later.”
Your mental model is compounding stability.
Good structure today = easier evolution tomorrow.
From this lens, degrading quality feels irrational and self-destructive.
Lens #2: The Business Lens
Founders, PMs, and investors see something different.
They see:
- Runway (months until money runs out)
- Revenue growth
- Customer acquisition cost
- Competitive pressure
- Investor expectations
Their mental model isn’t compounding structure.
It’s survival under uncertainty.
From this lens:
- A quick solution that generates revenue beats a perfect system that doesn’t.
- Speed beats elegance before validation.
- Monetizable problems matter more than meaningful-but-unpaid ones.
If the company dies, your clean architecture dies with it.
Where the Tension Begins
Early stage companies usually optimize for users.
They polish. They care. They iterate. They earn trust.
But once growth stabilizes, something shifts.
The optimization function changes.
It becomes:
- Increase margins
- Reduce costs
- Extract more value per user
- Satisfy investors
This is where quality sometimes declines.
Not because people suddenly became evil.
But because incentives moved.
This slow drift from “serve users” to “extract value” is what creates product decay.
Understanding “Enshitification”
The term was popularized by Cory Doctorow to describe a common lifecycle:
- A platform is great for users.
- Then it becomes optimized for business customers.
- Then it becomes optimized for shareholders.
- Then user experience degrades.
This isn’t always intentional sabotage.
It’s often the natural result of late-stage growth pressure.
And if you stay long enough in tech, you’ll see this cycle repeat.
Why This Confuses Young Engineers
When you’re early in your career, you assume:
Everyone is trying to build the best possible product.
But in reality, different stakeholders are optimizing for different outcomes.
Engineers optimize for system integrity.
Business optimizes for capital efficiency.
Neither perspective is irrational.
But they are incompatible at the extremes.
If engineering dominates without validation → the company may die beautifully.
If business dominates without restraint → the product may survive financially but decay experientially.
The Hard Realization
Some founders plan for exit.
Some investors expect 10x returns.
Some decisions are made knowing long-term technical debt will become someone else’s problem.
That can feel cynical.
But it’s usually structural, not personal.
Understanding incentives makes you less angry and more strategic.
The Real Skill to Develop Early
Instead of choosing a side, learn both lenses.
As a young engineer:
- Master technical craft.
- Learn how revenue actually works.
- Observe how incentives shift as companies grow.
- Notice when survival decisions become extraction decisions.
- Decide what environments align with your values.
Not every company is built for longevity.
Not every product is meant to age well.
Some are experiments. Some are vehicles for exit. Some become enduring systems.
Your clarity about this will shape your career more than your choice of framework.
Final Thought
Technology is not the product.
It is leverage.
Engineering asks: > “Is this built well?”
Business asks: > “Does this generate return?”
When you understand both lenses, you stop being surprised by product decay.
You start predicting it.
And that awareness changes how you build, where you work, and what you tolerate.
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