I forced every engineer to take sales calls and they rewrote our platform

My best projects have been where I code side by side with the actual users or subject matter experts. Built a small business loan approval app for a bank, sat right beside the underwriters. Airport billing system, worked one door down from accounting. They came to standup everyday, you take breaks with them, gradually they feel like they own the product.

Ideally, folks would practice mob programming that includes rotating customers into the room in addition to a designer and a product manager. But, so many engineers have had bad experiences with pair programming that they allergically jump to making strawman arguments against even considering mob programming.

Ex: It doesn't require you to be forced into doing it 24/7 for everything. You can still do the vast majority of your work alone in your cave.