# Code is NOT all you do

Sean Grove, OpenAI | AI Engineer | 00:40

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSXIAP3rBWI
Channel: AI Engineer (https://www.youtube.com/@aiDotEngineer). Summarised by AIE Talks.
Page: https://aietalks.com/talks/code-is-not-all-you-do
Published: 2025-07-16
Tags: engineering-culture

## TL;DR
- Code accounts for only 10 to 20% of the value engineers bring, according to Sean Grove.
- Much of the work involves structured communication about users, their challenges, and the goals worth pursuing.
- Engineers turn user stories into possible solutions, plans, and discussions with colleagues.

## Summary
Sean Grove argues that describing engineering as writing code understates what engineers contribute. He estimates that code makes up 10 to 20% of the value, while structured communication accounts for the other 80 to 90%. The process he describes starts with talking to users and understanding their challenges. Engineers then distill those stories, think about possible solutions, define the goal they want to achieve, plan how to reach it, and share those plans with colleagues. The talk is brief, but its point is direct: engineering includes the work that happens before code is written and around the decisions that guide it.

## Key ideas
### Code is only part of an engineer's value
[00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSXIAP3rBWI&t=0s)
Sean Grove says code is only about 10 to 20% of the value engineers bring. He calls the rest structured communication. This estimate changes how the job should be described, because writing code is one visible part of a process that also includes understanding problems, deciding what to solve, planning the work, and explaining those decisions to other people.

### The process starts with users and their challenges
[00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSXIAP3rBWI&t=0s)
Grove begins his process with conversations with users. The purpose is to understand their challenges before deciding how to respond. The engineer gathers stories about what people are dealing with, rather than starting with an implementation. This puts user problems at the beginning of the work and gives later decisions something concrete to address.

### User stories need to be distilled before solution work
[00:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSXIAP3rBWI&t=22s)
After hearing users' stories, engineers distill them into a clearer account of the problem. Grove then describes thinking about how those problems might be solved. The sequence matters: the team first turns scattered experiences into an understandable problem, then considers possible solutions. Coding comes after this work of interpretation and problem definition.

### A solution needs a goal and a plan
[00:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSXIAP3rBWI&t=22s)
Grove says engineers need to ask what goal they want to achieve and then plan ways to achieve it. That means a solution is connected to an intended outcome, rather than treated as code written for its own sake. The planning step gives the work a direction and links the proposed approach to the problem identified through user conversations.

### Engineers share plans with colleagues
[00:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSXIAP3rBWI&t=22s)
The process ends, in Grove's short example, with sharing plans with colleagues. Communication is therefore part of the work itself. Engineers explain how they intend to reach the goal so other people can understand and discuss the approach. His estimate that structured communication makes up 80 to 90% of the value gives this planning and sharing work most of the weight in the overall job.

## Notable quotes
- "Code is sort of 10 to 20% of the value that you bring." (00:00)
- "The other 80 to 90% is in structured communication." (00:00)
- "You talk to users in order to understand their challenges." (00:00)
- "You share those plans with your colleagues." (00:22)

## Tools & references mentioned
- OpenAI
- Sean Grove

## Who should watch
- Engineers who describe their work mainly as coding and want a broader account of what the job involves.
- Teams that need a simple process for moving from user problems to goals, plans, and shared decisions.
- People working with users who need to connect conversations and problem definition to implementation.

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- [Code Mode: Let the Code do the Talking](https://aietalks.com/talks/code-mode-let-the-code-do-the-talking) (Sunil Pai, Cloudflare, 19:40)
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- [The engineer of the future is the person who is able to choose what is worth doing.](https://aietalks.com/talks/the-engineer-of-the-future-is-the-person-who-is-able-to-choose-what-is-worth) (Addy Osmani, 18:26)
- [Claude Code & the evolution of agentic coding](https://aietalks.com/talks/claude-code-the-evolution-of-agentic-coding) (Boris Cherny, Anthropic, 18:12)