LOCKEDIN / FORWARD-DEPLOYED ENGINEERING 101
Understand it.
Then build it.
You can be an experienced engineer and still be new to agents. Start with what each thing is and how it helps a person do useful work. Explore 48 original introductions across software, agents, cloud, security and delivery. Start here without a model key; each topic connects to deeper instruction and practice.
- 101UnderstandPlain language, visual walkthrough, vocabulary
- 102Build with guidanceOriginal lessons, examples and knowledge checks
- 103Practise and explainRunnable labs, failure cases and handover
- 01Observe
- 02Choose a slice
- 03Agree evidence
Client delivery practice
How does an FDE discover the right problem?
Discovery is learning how work happens before deciding what to build. An FDE observes the current workflow, identifies a costly or risky decision, and agrees a small testable improvement with the people who own that work. A request for an agent is a starting hypothesis, not a solution specification.
The strongest technical design is wasted if it solves the wrong task or cannot be adopted by the receiving team.
CONNECT IT TO WHAT YOU KNOW
Start with something familiar.
It is debugging a business workflow before debugging software: reproduce the actual problem, identify the constraint and make a falsifiable hypothesis.
Separate observations from assumptions and desired outcomes. A persuasive demo is not evidence that the intervention improved real work.
Words worth knowing
- Observation
- Something directly seen or recorded.
- Hypothesis
- A proposed explanation or improvement that can be tested.
- Acceptance criterion
- An agreed condition the result must satisfy.
ONE EXAMPLE / FICTIONAL CASE
Watch the work take shape.
A team asks for automatic dispatch. Observation shows the real delay is finding the current approved procedure before a human decision.
- 01Observe
- 02Choose a slice
- 03Agree evidence
Observe
Follow one real task with its owner and record steps, delays, exceptions and current tools.
A current-workflow mapFROM RECOGNITION TO REASONING
Turn 'we need an agent' into a discovery brief.
- 01
Name the person, task and observed difficulty.
- 02
Write one assumption you must test.
- 03
Propose a small trial with a baseline and decision owner.
A one-page brief that can be rejected by evidence.
Compare your reasoning when you are ready
Start by testing whether finding approved evidence is the actual bottleneck. Automating dispatch may add risk without addressing that delay.
Keep notes in your own working copy. Moving through these cards does not record completion.
TURN THE IDEA INTO USEFUL WORK
You can now go deeper.
Separate observations from assumptions and desired outcomes. A persuasive demo is not evidence that the intervention improved real work.
Academy lessons use your existing training access. Free guides stay open.