FDE Advisory Materials (MVP)
Practical guidance for organizations building Forward Deployed Engineering capabilities.
MVP Scope: This repository focuses on the 3 critical areas that solve immediate problems:
- Hiring & Talent Strategy
- Product-FDE Interface
- Technical Enablement
→ Start here: FDE Startup Kit
What is FDE?
Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) are technical, client-facing engineers who solve customer problems by building on and extending product platforms. They differ from traditional consulting or staff augmentation roles by:
- Taking ownership of customer outcomes
- Contributing directly to product/platform development
- Working across the full technical stack
- Operating with high autonomy and pain tolerance
What's Included
Core Documents
- 00-fde-startup-kit.md - Quick reference guide for FDE essentials. Start here for an overview.
- 01-hiring-talent-strategy.md - How to hire FDEs (interview process, evaluation, channels)
- 02-product-fde-interface.md - Managing FDE-Product team relationships and expectations
- 03-technical-enablement.md - Minimum standards for FDE-ready products
Resources
Ready-to-use resources for building your FDE program:
- Hiring: Job descriptions, interview scorecards, onboarding checklists
- Product Interface: FDE-Product team agreements
Getting Started by Challenge
- "We need to hire our initial FDE team" → 01-hiring-talent-strategy.md
- "FDEs and Product teams are constantly in conflict" → 02-product-fde-interface.md
- "FDEs spend days just trying to set up environments" → 03-technical-enablement.md
- "I need a quick overview" → 00-fde-startup-kit.md
Stay Updated
Subscribe to updates and new versions:
- GitHub Releases: Watch this repository → Custom → Releases only (email notifications)
- RSS Feed: Subscribe to releases feed in your RSS reader
- Check manually: View CHANGELOG.md for version history
Current version: MVP-1.3.1 (updated 2026-01-16)