Work directly with the users
Between the person who has the problem and the person who builds the solution, count the intermediaries.
In a classic software project: sales, project manager, business analyst, specifications, steering committee… Each link distorts the need a little. At the end of the chain, a tool that matches the spec — and is unusable in the lab.
Every intermediary distorts the need
The game of telephone does not spare software projects. What the quality manager describes becomes a spec line, then a story, then a feature — and by the end, the screen no longer matches her real work.
The longer the chain, the wider the gap between the delivered tool and the real work. That is how "compliant" software that nobody uses is born.
FDE removes the links
Forward Deployed Engineering puts the engineer in direct contact with the user: they sit next to the R&D project lead, the quality manager, the regulatory assistant. They observe, question, prototype, have it tested, fix it.
The cycle — understand → build → deploy → observe → improve — is measured in days, not quarters. Each iteration is validated by the person with the problem, not by an intermediary.
How crumble-ai applies it
This is our fundamental #2: every crumble-ai project is led by a domain expert who builds it themselves, alongside your teams. No "let me pass your need to the tech team".
The short loop between user and builder is what makes the solution right the first time — and adopted.
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