# The backlog is empty! What do you do? 🧨

Machine translation from the original post. Not reviewed by a human translator. Historical claims may no longer be current.

The backlog is empty! What do you do? 🧨
The developer walked up and said: "We finished everything. No more features in the backlog, the bugs are fixed. What's next?"

Sounds imaginary? Well, not anymore - 
AI-based development tools like Cursor are changing the rules of the game.
Development that used to take a week is now written in a day.

This creates a situation in which companies suddenly start facing an unthinkable question: what happens when development is no longer the bottleneck?

The world in which "a product manager decides what to build, and the developer makes sure it happens" is dying.
In its place, a *new work model* is rising before our eyes: engineers with business responsibility, with a deep understanding of the user, of the product, and of how everything connects to the bottom line.

The new questions we (the Squad members) need to ask are:
- Why are we building this at all?
- How will we measure success?
- How does this feature help the company grow?

I liked the way PostHog phrased it (full article in the first comment):
"Engineers lead the teams. The product manager has the role of a compass - not a captain. He doesn't decide the destination, but only helps make sure we don't deviate from the direction."

👨‍🔧 And why do I see this as exciting news for developers?
Because it gives engineers back the heart of the profession.
Not just code, not just infrastructure, but a real direct connection to the problem, the user, and the value.
It demands more of us - developers and development managers - but also gives us much more meaning.

A world in which product wants it yesterday and development does it tomorrow is shrinking, and the big weight moves to other departments in the organization - to marketing, to product managers, to management. 

Are you ready for the day when development won't be the bottleneck?
The train has left the station and it's racing forward without waiting for anyone; if your organization has no preparation for this change, this reality will meet you soon.

I can attest that developers who adopted Cursor produce code at double the pace and even more than those who still work "manually".

Are you already feeling the change on your team? 🤔

Original: https://ofershap.github.io/posts/when-development-stops-being-the-bottleneck/
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ofershap_%D7%94%D7%91%D7%A7%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%92-%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%A7-%D7%9E%D7%94-%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%A4%D7%AA%D7%97-%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%92%D7%A9-%D7%95%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8-activity-7310632014599102464-3Gqu
Published: 2025-03-26T14:01:37.255000+02:00