ForwardShare
Expert Program Cohort 1

Beyond the Codebase: Pivoting to Product Engineer

The ticket increasingly writes itself. What doesn’t get automated is judgment: which problem is worth solving, whether the solution fits the user, and how to defend a trade-off in a room full of stakeholders.

By Faz Besharatian, Product Design Expert Operator at Forward Share Ventures.

  • Problem Brief
  • PRD
  • Prototype
  • Stakeholder Demo
  • Product Case Study
Faz Besharatian, Product Design Expert Operator

Led by

Faz Besharatian

Product Design Expert Operator · Ex-Kaiser Permanente, Fannie Mae & AARP

Start date ·
2 weeksDuration
2–3 hrsWeekly time

Why Product Engineer

Most engineers still measure their value by how fast they ship a ticket. The ticket increasingly writes itself.

Here’s the pattern we keep seeing. You’ve watched Claude, Copilot or Cursor write the first draft of code that used to take you an afternoon, and the 70 to 80% of your week that was around coding is shrinking while the leverage moves somewhere else. You’re already the engineer product comes to for feasibility calls, but you’re in the room to answer “can we”, never in the room when someone decides “should we”.

Companies are creating Product Engineer tracks and blended IC roles, and you don’t want to find out about the title change after the reorg already happened without you. You don’t want to become a full-time PM. You want to stay technical and add product judgment on top, not swap one job for another.

  • A validated Problem Brief, framed like a product person, with the UX evaluated like a designer.
  • A scoped PRD: your Problem Brief converted into a clear, defensible spec.
  • A stakeholder demo: one you can deliver and defend in the room.
  • A complete Product Case study: Problem Brief, PRD, Prototype and demo, as proof of your Product Engineer shift.

Stay technical. Add the product judgment that doesn’t get automated.

Curriculum

2-Week Curriculum

Goal 1 – Frame the Problem

Sessions 1 & 2 · & · 60 min each

Goal: Learn to frame problems like a product person, evaluate UX like a designer, and produce a validated Problem Brief.

Tasks

  • Work with a common product issue and write a first problem statement
  • Define who has the problem, why it matters and how you would know it is solved
  • Evaluate the current user experience the way a designer would and note where it breaks
  • Check the framing with a user or stakeholder and finalize your Problem Brief

You leave with: a validated Problem Brief.

Goal 2 – Build and Defend the Solution

Sessions 3 & 4 · & · 60 min each

Goal: Convert a Problem Brief into a scoped PRD, a Prototype and a demo you can deliver to stakeholders.

Tasks

  • Turn your Problem Brief into a scoped PRD with goals, non-goals and success measures
  • Build a Prototype of the core experience
  • Prepare a stakeholder demo that explains your trade-offs
  • Deliver the demo, collect feedback and assemble your Product Case study

You leave with: a PRD, a Prototype, a stakeholder demo and your complete Product Case study.

ICP

Who this program is for

01 Software Engineers, any level You sense AI is shrinking the “pure coding” part of the role.
02 At product-led companies Your company is creating Product Engineer tracks and blended IC roles, or soon will.
03 Want a say in the “what” and “why” Not just the “how”, and without becoming a full-time PM.

Format

Format model

2-week structure, 2 goals, 4 tasks per goal · Outcomes-based · 4 live group sessions (60 min) · 2 to 3 hrs/week · Goal tracking & accountability · Lead expert & co-experts · Delivered via AchieveOS

Goal 1 Frame the problem, evaluate the UX, validated Problem Brief &
Goal 2 Scoped PRD, Prototype, stakeholder demo, Product Case study &

Pricing

What your seat includes

Cohort 1

$299

Software Engineers (any level) at product-led companies. 10 seats. Starts Mon, Nov 9, 2026.

Weekly time

2–3 hrs

4 live group sessions of 60 minutes over 2 weeks, plus four tasks per goal.

  • A validated Problem Brief

    Framed like a product person, UX evaluated like a designer.

  • A scoped PRD

    Converted from your Problem Brief.

  • A stakeholder demo

    One you can deliver and defend.

  • A Product Case study

    Proof of your Product Engineer shift.

  • 4 live group sessions + goal tracking

    Delivered by AchieveOS.

Your facilitators

Learn directly from your facilitators

Faz Besharatian

Faz Besharatian

Product Design Expert Operator, Forward Share Ventures

Faz is a Product Design expert operator with 20+ years building design as a strategic capability inside large, complex organizations. At Kaiser Permanente he introduced a service design-led operating model and launched the Manage My Health Condition platform, shortening release cycles by 30% and lifting daily patient engagement from 34% to 47% over 12 months.

At Fannie Mae he established a unified product design practice, with a maturity model for design teams and journey-based prioritization tied to business KPIs. At AARP he led multi-market ethnographic studies and service blueprints that drove 10M additional page views in six months. He has also trained career-changers into hirable designers, placing 140+ at companies from startups to the Fortune 500. He now runs North x Normal.

Previously Kaiser Permanente Fannie Mae AARP North x Normal
Martín Sagastume

Martín Sagastume

Head of Engineering, Forward Share Ventures

Martín has been Head of Engineering at Forward Share Ventures since June 2025. Before that he was Engineering Manager at Pennylane and Head of Engineering at stockperks, where he hired and managed a team of five engineers and bridged the gap between product and engineering, taking an idea to a highly scalable fintech app.

Earlier, he spent four years at WeWork, from Software Engineer in Montevideo to Senior Software Engineer in New York, leading a web team rebuilding a legacy Angular app in React, mentoring in Flatiron School programs and sitting on 15+ interview panels. He also spent a year as a Solution Consultant at NetSuite, building fast proofs of concept for sales. He started as a full-stack developer and has been building software since 2008.

Previously Pennylane stockperks WeWork NetSuite

Stay Technical. Add the Product Judgment That Doesn’t Get Automated.

$299 · 10 seats · Cohort 1 starts Mon, Nov 9, 2026, for software engineers at any level.

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