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Dear Engineer
And how to avoid belief traps
Jaime Solis
10 Oct
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"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool." — Richard Feynman
The Red Thread This Week
Dear Engineer
I've spent years working alongside some very talented software engineers—the kind who squash bugs buried deep in codebases nobody wants to touch.
What always struck me wasn't just their technical skill.
It was their relationship with being wrong.
Show an engineer a bug, and they don't get defensive. They get curious.
"Interesting. Let me trace that back."
They'll tear apart their own work to find where the assumption broke down.
Because in engineering, reality has the final vote.
A bridge either holds or it doesn't.
Code either compiles or it throws an error.
You can't argue with a failed load test or negotiate with physics.
This mindset—this willingness to be proven wrong because being wrong means you're about to learn something—is one of the most valuable things I've learned from the engineers I've worked with.
And it's exactly what most of us abandon the moment we step outside technical work.
We often treat our marketing, our creative work, even our business models as matters of preference instead of assertions to be tested.
We defend our choices instead of examining them.
So this week's Red Thread is a love letter to engineering thinking.
Not the technical parts—the mindset.
The part that says: "Show me. Prove it.”
“What would it take for me to change my mind?"
Because whether you're building software, leading a team, or creating a business, that question changes everything.
~ Jaime
🔑 The Unlock
What Would it Take?
It’s the question that separates engineering thinking from wishful thinking:
"What test would it take for me to change my mind about this?"
If you can't commit to answering that clearly, and honestly, you're not testing a theory. You're defending a belief.
Engineers know this instinctively. The rest of us have to practice it deliberately.
Here's how to spot beliefs dressed up as engineering:
1️⃣ The Unstable Claim
Watch for ideas that shape-shift when challenged.
Your podcast isn't growing on YouTube because "the algorithm changed."
But when someone points out your thumbnails are vague, suddenly it’s "people don't care about thumbnails anymore."
That's not analysis. That's defense.
Engineering thinking holds still long enough to be tested.
2️⃣ The Confirmation Trap
Stop looking for proof you're right. Start hunting for proof you're wrong.
The best teams celebrate finding problems. Because problems you can see are problems you can fix.
Direct marketers understand this clearly—they don't care if the current email sales template wins design awards.
They only ask: Does it beat the control? If it does, it becomes the new standard.
No ego. No attachment. Just results.
3️⃣ The Progress Check
If you've been doing something the same way for a few years and you haven’t been making progress, one of two things is true:
Either you've hit the ceiling of what's possible, or you're repeating a mistake.
Most of the time, it's the second one.
Real progress requires changing your mind when the data tells you to.
If your approach isn't evolving, you're not learning.
4️⃣ The Personal Problem
Someone gives you feedback on your work or ideas, and your first reaction is to feel attacked.
You defend your choices. You explain your reasoning. You make it about whether or not they "get" you.
When criticism of your work or your ideas feels like criticism of you, you've lost the ability to improve.
The engineers I've worked with have a firewall between their work and their worth.
They can hear "this isn't working" without hearing "you're not good enough."
5️⃣ Vague Language
Pay attention to the language being used by yourself and others. Listen for generalities and broad statements, versus specific details.
In your own work, replace every vague word with a specific outcome.
Not "engaging content." Instead: "30% of viewers watch past the 2-minute mark."
Not "authentic brand." Instead: "One behind-the-scenes story per week showing how decisions get made."
Specificity is uncomfortable because it can be proven wrong. That's exactly why it works.
📌 Remember: The goal isn't to eliminate belief. It's to know when you're operating on belief versus evidence, and to choose the right tool for the job.
💡 Creative Edge
When the Stakes Get Real
An engineer who believes they can build a suspension bridge out of pasta and candle wax might have an interesting theory.
But if they build it and people drive across it, someone’s going in the river.
That's the line.
Belief is fine when the impact stays personal.
But when your decisions affect others—your team, your customers, your community—you need a different standard.
Ask someone from the Flat Earth Society what evidence would change their mind. The question itself becomes an attack.
But if you gave them a ticket to orbit the earth on Virgin Galactic, just to look around, and they refused to go…you'd know something.
They're not doing engineering. They're doing something else.
And the best builders and creators understand this distinction.
They constantly ask: Did more people have a great experience? Are we helping? Are things improving?
If yes, keep it. If no, try something else.
We could use more of that thinking everywhere.
Not because belief doesn't matter—it does.
And in some ways, it probably did.
📌 Mindset shift: When we confuse what we believe with what reality consistently proves, we stop learning. We stop building things that actually work.
🎲 Prompt Playground
The Belief Audit
Use this prompt to identify where you might be confusing belief for evidence in your work:
Copy + paste the prompt below into your AI tool of choice (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.) and fill in the blanks.
Prompt:
I want to identify where I'm making decisions based on belief versus evidence. Act as my strategic advisor and help me see my blind spots.
My Current Situation:
What I'm building or working on: [describe your project, business, or content in 1-2 sentences]
My main strategy right now: [explain your current approach]
What I think is working well: [list 2-3 things]
What I think isn't working: [list 2-3 things]
Actual evidence I have (data, metrics, feedback): [be specific - numbers, quotes, results]
Help me analyze this by doing the following:
1. Compare my beliefs (what I think is working/not working) against my actual evidence. Tell me which beliefs are supported by data and which are assumptions I'm making without proof.
2. For each assumption you identify, ask me: "What specific test or evidence would make you change your mind about this?" If I can't answer that question clearly, flag it as a major blind spot.
3. Look at what I said "isn't working" and tell me: Am I blaming things outside my control (algorithms, timing, market conditions) or am I taking responsibility for things I can actually change?
4. Give me ONE specific experiment I could run in the next 7 days that would either prove or disprove my biggest assumption. Make it simple and actionable.
📡 Industry Pulse
3 Things you Might Have Missed About Spotify CEO Stepping Back to Executive Chairman — Music Business Worldwide
AI podcast voices (maybe?) face resistance: 47% of listeners would bail but is that the full story? — Sounds Profitable
ChatGPT now integrates Spotify and Zillow directly in conversations — Forbes
YouTube launches "second chance" program to reinstate select banned channels — Tubefilter
The Future of Social Media Creative: From Gen Z to B2B, what's considered good content — ICYMI
🛠️ Creator Tools
Voiset – Automatically organize your day with a voice-powered AI calendar based on your tasks and priorities.
WebNovel AI – Draft web novels from concept to manuscript with structured story planning powered by Novel AI.
Notch – Create AI Ads based on what’s trending.
💼 Open Opportunities
Head of Marketing – EVEN (Location TBD) View Role →
Podcast Producer – TED Talks (NYC) View Role →
Your next move in Music
Explore the MBW Job Board →
Crack into Podcasting
Check out the Sounds Profitable Job Board →
📌 Know someone looking? Forward this to them!
⚡ Your Next Move
Before you go, here are 3 ways I can help:
🗓️ Get 1:1 Support from Me: Need a thought partner to help shape what's next for your project or team? Let’s talk.
🎙️ Audit Your Podcast: Get pro-level eyes on your podcast without hiring a full-time producer.
🚀 Speaking Engagements & Workshops: Looking for a speaker for your next live (or virtual) event? Or someone to lead your next strategic workshop? Drop me a note.
Thanks for spending time with Red Threads this week, I’m glad you’re here :)
~ Jaime