Ownership Means Understanding

Ownership isn’t “it works.”

Feature works. PR merged. Ship it. That’s not ownership.

The Difference

Narrow view
┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  "Built the signup form. It submits."      │
└────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Ownership
┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  "Built the signup form.                   │
│   ├── Validates client + server side       │
│   ├── Errors help users fix problems       │
│   ├── 10s timeout with retry               │
│   ├── Fallback when backend is down        │
│   └── Tracking if it actually converts"    │
└────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Same feature. Different responsibility.

The Scope

What breaks?
├── Users       → Who are they? How do they fail?
├── System      → Where does it connect? What assumptions?
├── Edge cases  → Network dies. API garbage. The unexpected.
└── Business    → Why build this? What metric moves?

The Habit

Ask “why” one more time. Read adjacent code. Own the demo — show edge cases, not just happy paths. Follow up after launch.

The question isn’t “Is this my responsibility?” It’s “Does this need to be done?”