Julie Yack

“Forward-Deployed Engineer.”

Sounds dramatic, right?

Like someone parachuting into production with a Power Automate flow and a mission.

But here’s the thing — a lot of us are already doing this kind of work without ever calling it that.
You might already be a forward-deployed engineer and just not know it.

So, what is a Forward-Deployed Engineer?

Traditionally, it’s someone who works right where technology meets real-world problems — close to the people who actually use what gets built. Not in a lab or a planning meeting, but out there, shoulder-to-shoulder with users, untangling messy workflows and making stuff work.

It’s hands-on. It’s human-first. It’s empathy disguised as engineering.

And if that sounds familiar… well…

You might be a Forward-Deployed Engineer if:

• You’re scrappy and just make it happen.
• You build solutions while sitting next to the people who’ll actually use them.
• You care as much about the problem as the platform.
• You’ve ever said, “Let’s just try it,” and spun up a prototype to see what happens.
• You’re the translator between what the business wants and what technology can deliver.
• You’ve rolled up your sleeves to debug something that wasn’t technically “your job.”
• You’ve shipped something imperfect because the team needed it yesterday — and then refined it in real time.
• You’ve taken quiet pride in a fix that made someone’s day easier, even if no one outside your team noticed.
• You’ve ever used empathy as your debugging tool.

It’s not a job title — it’s a mindset

Forward deployment isn’t about where you sit — it’s about where you serve.
It’s about getting close enough to the problem that you feel the impact of your work.
It’s about solving with people, not just for them.

Whether you call yourself a maker, consultant, architect, or the unofficial “Power Platform person” in your office — if you’re out there translating chaos into clarity, you’re already doing the work of a forward-deployed engineer.

So the next time you’re deep in a messy workflow or fixing something you technically don’t own — remember, you’re not just keeping the lights on.

You’re forward deployed.

And you’re making things better, one flow (or fix) at a time.

But I feel like an imposter!

Join the club.

But backup a minute.

Do you do the things I’ve described above?

Some of it? Most of it? All of it? Someone made a fancy-sounding name for something you’re already doing.

You got this!